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Red Onion Marmalade

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One of those little accompaniments with a bizarre name that became trendy in the early part of the new millennium. Still, just because a thing is trendy it doesn’t mean that it isn’t worthy of some attention, does it? I think the name is fun and it works well with baked or grilled cheeses, particularly goat’s cheeses.

Planning

serves: 4
preparation time: 10 mins
cooking time: 1 hr

Ingredients

  • 350g red onions, peeled, halved & finely sliced
  • 25g butter
  • 1 tbs thyme leaves, picked
  • 225ml dry red wine
  • 50ml red wine vinegar
  • salt & pepper

Method

Melt the butter in a medium-sized saucepan, stir in the onions and the thyme and let them soften for about 10 minutes. Now add the wine and vinegar, bring it to a gentle simmer and add a little salt and black pepper. Reduce the heat to low and let it cook gently, uncovered, for 50 minutes to 1 hour or until the liquid has evaporated. You are aiming for a jam-like consistency.

This works warm or cold, depending upon what it is accompanying.


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Puy Lentil Salad

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Puy lentils have a natural peppery taste and make a good salad to accompany cold chicken or guinea fowl.

Planning

serves: 4
preparation time: 5 mins
cooking time: 15 mins

Ingredients

  • 8 oz Puy lentils, rinsed
  • 2 shallots, finely chopped
  • 4 sprigs fresh thyme
  • 2 tbs good olive oil
  • salt

Method

Cover the lentils with water in a small saucepan and add the sprigs of thyme. Do not add salt. Bring to the boil and simmer gently. After 5 minutes, add the chopped shallots. Continue to simmer for 10 minutes or until the lentils are tender but retain their shape.

Drain the lentils and remove the thyme sprigs. Put them into a bowl and stir in the olive oil. While still warm, add salt to taste, stirring gently to dissolve. Due to the natural peppery taste of Puy lentils, adding pepper should be unnecessary.

Allow the lentils to cool before serving.


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Penne Primavera

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A rare excursion into the world of vegetarian cuisine. I think this is an American concept and the title “primavera” always seems a little inappropriate, since there are mushrooms which are traditional autumnal. Be that as it may, as veggie dishes go, this one works well and should give you most of your “five-a-day” in one fell swoop.

Planning

serves: 4
preparation time: 20 mins
cooking time: 15 mins

Ingredients

  • 1 large onion, chopped
  • 250g cherry tomatoes, quartered
  • 250g white cap mushrooms, quartered
  • 2 cloves garlic, crushed
  • 1 large head broccoli, cut into florets
  • 1 large cauliflower, cut into florets
  • 250g fine green beans or mangetout, halved
  • 1 leek, trimmed and cut into ¾ cm slices
  • 300g fresh penne pasta
  • olive oil
  • salt & pepper
  • Parmesan cheese, freshly grated

Method

First, start bringing an unfeasibly large pan of water to the boil. (It needs to be big enough to hold all the green vegetables and the pasta together.)

Next, deal with the tomatoes. Sweat the onion in some olive oil until soft. Toss in the tomatoes and cook gently for about three minutes. You don’t want the tomatoes to disintegrate. This isn’t like a classic Italian tomato sauce but should be something fresher tasting. Try to keep the quarters largely intact but release some of their juices. Season with some salt and pepper, turn off the heat and reserve.

Now for the mushrooms. In another pan, heat another few tablespoons of olive oil and sauté the mushroom quarters for about two miutes. Throw in the crushed garlic, stir annd cook for another minute. Season with some salt and pepper, remove from the heat and reserve.

Once the unfeasibly large pan of water is boiling, add a generous amount of salt and toss in all the green vegetables and the pasta together. Bring back to the boil, reduce the heat and simmer gently for five minutes. Strain the lot – and yes, I know, you need an unfeasibly large strainer, too. Spalsh some more olive oil back into the cooking pot, return the pasta and vegetables and stir to coat with the olive oil. Now throw in the mushrooms and the tomato mixture and mix well together once more.

Serve topped with grated Parmesan cheese.


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Green Bean Salad with Pecans

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This is a development of a bean salad with walnuts by Mr Stein. I find walnuts can be a bit strenuous at times and thought the gentler flavout of pecans would give a more appealing result; they still go perfectly well with walnut oil. Since I also had some wonderful, juicy summer garlic, I couldn’t resist the addition of a little garlic combined with the sweetness of white balsamic vinegar to complete the dressing.

Planning

serves: 4
preparation time: 20 mins
cooking time: 3 mins

Ingredients

  • 250g fine green beans, trimmed & halved
  • 50g shelled pecan nuts, roughly chopped
  • 1 very small clove garlic, crushed with salt
  • 1 tsp white balsamic vinegar
  • 1 tbs walnut oil
  • salt & pepper

Method

Cook the beans in boiling, salted water until they are slightly tender but retain some bite. This will take about 2 – 3 minutes depending upon thickness. Refresh them in cold water to arrest their cooking and let them cool completely Dry them, either in a clean tea towel or salad spinner.

Mix the crushed garlic with the white balsamic vinegar, then add the walnut oil. Add a few grindings of black pepper and a little salt if necessary (it depends how much salt you used to crush the garlic). Shake the dressing together.

Mix the beans and chopped pecans in a bowl and ad the dressing just before you are ready to serve.


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Wood Pigeon with Forcemeat Balls

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Wood pigeons have dark red flesh with a naturally mild gamey flavour and are inexpensive. One bird is ample for one person. This recipe was my introduction to pigeons and is still my favourite. Casseroling them whole in this fashion keeps them moist and helps tenderize potentially older birds.

Planning

serves: 4
preparation time: 30 mins
cooking time: 1½ hrs

Ingredients

  • 4 wood pigeons, oven ready
  • 4 oz smoked streaky bacon
  • 1 oz. butter
  • 1 tbs plain flour
  • 15 fl oz hot chicken stock
  • 1 bouquet garni
  • 12 button onions, peeled
  • 8 oz button mushrooms, wiped and quartered
  • 4 oz fresh white breadcrumbs
  • 2 oz shredded beef suet
  • 3 tbs chopped fresh parsley
  • grated rind of ½ lemon
  • 2 small eggs
  • salt & pepper

Method

Preheat the oven to 180°C/Gas 4.

Remove the rind from the bacon, dice it and fry it in the melted butter until it crispens. Remove the bacon pieces with a slotted spoon and drain them on kitchen paper. Brown the pigeons evenly in the fat then transfer them to a casserole.

Drain all but two tablespoons of fat from the pan; stir in the flour and cook gently until it browns lightly. Gradually blend in the hot stock, raise the sauce to simmering point and cook for a few minutes. Strain the sauce over the pigeons. Add the bacon pieces, a little salt and pepper and the bouquet garni. Add the whole peeled onions. Cover the casserole with the lid and cook in the centre of the oven for 1 hour. Turn the pigeons a few times during cooking.

Meanwhile, make the forcemeat balls. Put the breadcrumbs, suet, parsley and lemon rind into a mixing bowl and season with pepper and salt. Beat the eggs lightly and stir them into the dry ingredients to form a moist mixture. Form the mixture into walnut-sized balls.

After the hour, add the mushrooms and forcemeat balls to the casserole, replace the lid and cook for a further 15-20 minutes. Remove the bouquet garni, arrange the pigeons on a serving plate surrounded by the onions, mushrooms and forcemeat balls and serve.


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Wild Duck with Grapefruit and Port Sauce

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Bred-for-the-table ducklings tend to have a high proportion of frame and fat and a low proportion of actual duck meat. The antidote is wild duck – mallard – which has little fat, almost as much meat and a good flavour. This is my favourite way of cooking it. The sauce compliments it very well.

Planning

serves: 4
preparation time: 20 mins
cooking time: 1 hr

Ingredients

  • 2 wild ducks (mallard), oven ready
  • 6 parsley sprigs, roughly chopped
  • 4 shallots, peeled and halved
  • 3 oz butter
  • 2 grapefruit (preferably pink fleshed)
  • 3 fl oz ruby port
  • 2 fl oz brown stock (preferably duck)
  • salt & pepper

Method

Preheat the oven to hot, gas mark 7.

Melt the butter in a roasting pan large enough to hold both ducks. Salt the duck?s cavities lightly and put half of the parsley and shallots in each duck. Place the ducks in the roasting pan, brush with the melted butter and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Roast them near the top of the oven for 10 minutes basting once or twice.

Meanwhile, pare the rind (avoiding the pith) from half of one grapefruit. Trim this and cut into julienne strips. Blanch the strips in boiling water for 1 – 2 minutes. Halve both grapefruits and extract the juice.

When the ducks have cooked for the initial 10 minutes, reduce the oven to moderate, gas mark 4. Pour the grapefruit juice over the ducks, sprinkle with a little more salt and pepper then return them to the oven and cook them for another 30 minutes or so. (Adjust this time according to your preference.) Baste the ducks frequently with the grapefruit juice during the cooking.

Remove the ducks from the roasting pan. Scoop the parsley and shallots from within the ducks and add them to the pan juices. Keep the ducks warm while you finish the sauce. Stirring constantly, boil the pan juices to reduce and concentrate the flavours slightly. Strain the juices into a saucepan and add the port and brown stock. Add the blanched grapefruit strips. Bring the sauce to the boil and allow it to reduce and thicken slightly. Season to taste.

Carve the legs and breasts from the ducks. Pour a little of the sauce over the duck pieces, crowning each breast with a few of the grapefruit strips. Serve the remaining sauce separately.


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Veggies for Fish

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This is an earthy combination of vegetables flavoured with mint that seems to be a good accompaniment to fish dishes.

Planning

serves: 4
preparation time: 15 mins
cooking time: 10 mins

Ingredients

  • 25g butter
  • 125g garden peas (preferably fresh)
  • 125g baby leeks (large ones don’t work)
  • ½ cucumber
  • preferably 200g shelled broad beans or 200g asparagus tips or 2 medium courgettes
  • handful fresh mint leaves, roughly chopped
  • salt & pepper

Method

Trim and quarter the courgettes lengthwise then cut them into 1cm chunks. Trim the baby leeks and cut them on the diagonal into similarly sized pieces discarding the extreme ends. Peel and de-seed the ½ cucumber and cut it into 1cm dice. If you’re lucky enough to have broad beans, par boil them for about 2 minutes then slip the skins off. If you have asparagus, cut the stems into approx 3cm lengths (being sure to keep th every tips whole, of course). If you’re using courgettes, trim them , quarter them lengthwise and cut them into 1 cm chunks.

Now, in a sauté pan (one that has a well fitting lid), heat the butter over medium heat. Add the peas, leaks and either broad beans or asparagus. Sweat these vegetables uncovered for about 2 minutes. Now add the cucumber along with the (optional) courgettes and continue sweating for another 2 minutes. Sprinkle in the chopped mint, stir and cover the pan, lower the heat and cook very gently for another 2 minutes. Season with some salt and pepper to taste just prior to serving.


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Ragoût of Turbot and Scallops

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One of the excellent Mr Stein’s creations from Taste of the Sea . I have actually never made this with the scallops; rather using the fillets from a whole chicken turbot which is plenty for four servings.

Planning

serves: 4
preparation time: 10 mins
cooking time: 30 mins

Ingredients

  • 350g turbot fillet
  • 25g fresh tarragon (including stalks)
  • 12 scallops
  • 175 ml double cream
  • 1.2 ltr fish stock
  • 75g butter
  • 50 ml Noilly Prat
  • 1 head chickory, thinly sliced lengthwise
  • 100g white of leek, thinly sliced lengthwise
  • 100g button mushrooms, thinly sliced
  • 1 tbs fresh chervil
  • juice ¼ lemon
  • salt & pepper

Method

Slice the turbot into 1 cm strips across the fillet. Strip off enough tarragon leaves to make 1 teaspoon of roughly chopped tarragon. Cut each scallop into three rounds.

Boil together the fish stock, half the cream and remaining tarragon until the volume is reduced by three-quarters. (Care is required to avoid boiling over.) Strain the liquid and discard the tarragon.

Place the butter and Noilly Prat in a wide, shallow, heavy-based pan. Add the chicory and leeks, cover and cook gently for about 5 minutes. Add the mushrooms and cook for a further minute. Place the turbot strips and the scallop discs on top of the vegetables, add half a teacup or so of the reduced fish stock and cream mixture, and season lightly. Simmer gently, covered, for about three minutes when the fish should be just cooked.

Lift out the fish and vegetables and keep warm. Add the remaining cream and chopped tarragon to the pan and boil vigourously for 3 – 4 minutes to reduce the volume and concentrate the flavours.

Divide the fish and vegetables between four plates, pour over the sauce and serve sprinkled with chopped chervil.


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Tuna Niçoise

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A derivative of one of the World’s great salads, Salade Niçoise, which is often augmented by tuna to make a more substantial meal. I had some good tuna steaks but it wasn’t really the weather for a salad. So, I used the ingredients of a Salade Niçoise minus the salad leaves and served it warm with the salad dressing, topped with the grilled tuna steaks and hard-boiled egg. Very successful!

Planning

serves: 4
preparation time: 20 mins
cooking time: 20 mins

Ingredients

  • 250g fine/French beans
  • 250g salad potatoes
  • 6 plum tomatoes
  • 1 tin anchovy fillets, drained
  • 24 black olives
  • 2 tbs. capers, drained
  • 1 tsp whole grain mustard
  • white wine vinegar
  • extra virgin olive oil
  • 4 tuna steaks
  • 2 large eggs, hard-boiled and shelled
  • salt & pepper

Method

Skin and de-seed the tomatoes then slice them lengthwise into strips about 1 cm wide. Wash and trim the beans and halve them. Cut the potatoes lengthwise into quarters. Simmer the potatoes until tender (about 7 minutes), steaming steam the green beans above them. Drain the potatoes and keep them and the beans warm.

Pit the black olives and quarter then lengthwise. Split four anchovy fillets in half lengthwise. Halve the hard-boiled eggs and top each half with two crossed anchovy strips. Chop the remaining anchovy fillets coarsely.

Warm the olive oil in a wide sauté pan (be careful not to heat it too much; don?t fry things). Add the cooked vegetables and mix in the tomato segments trying not to break them up. Add the chopped anchovies, capers and black olives. Slacken the mustard with a splash of white wine vinegar and stir this into the vegetable mixture. Warm through very gently ? try to keep the tomatoes intact. Season to taste with some salt and pepper.

Sear the tuna steaks on a very hot ridged griddle pan being sure to keep them pink in the centre. Pile the vegetable mixture into the centre of each of four plates and top each with a tuna steak. Top each tuna steak with one of the egg halves topped with anchovy strips.


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Torta de Naranja

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A superb Moorish orange and almond cake from Moro – The CookBook . This is a very useful recipe for those with a wheat difficulty since it is just almonds, eggs and caster sugar that provide the substance.

Planning

serves: 6
preparation time: 20 mins
cooking time: 1½ hrs

Ingredients

  • 6 eggs, separated
  • 240g caster sugar
  • 230g ground almonds
  • finely grated zest of 2½ oranges
  • juice of 8 oranges, preferably Seville
  • juice of 1½ lemons (if not using Seville oranges)
  • 1 stick cinnamon
  • caster sugar to taste

Method

Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F/gas 4. Line the bottom and sides of a 23cm spring-form tin with greaseproof paper.

Retaining one tablespoon of caster sugar for later, beat the rest of the 240g caster sugar together with the egg yolks until pale. Now mix in the almonds and zest. Beat the egg whites with the retained tablespoon of caster sugar until stiff and then fold gently into the egg mixture trying not to knock out the air. Carefully put the mixture into the lined tin, place on the middle shelf of the oven and bake for about 60-70 minutes until the torta is golden on top and firm to the touch.

While the torta is baking, make some orange syrup. Place the orange juice and, if using, the lemon juice into a saucepan together with the cinnamon stick and a handful of sugar. Bring this gently to the boil and simmer for about five minutes. Taste – the syrup should be quite tart. Allow to cool then place in the fridge.

When the torta is ready, remove it from the oven and allow to cool before opening the spring-form tin. Transfer it to a plate and pierce holes in the top (a skewer or carving fork works well). Soak about up to about half of the syrup into the torta.

Serve the remaining syrup on the side.


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