Home › Recipes › Page 17

Shortcrust Pastry

Posted on by JC — No Comments ↓

A shortcrust pastry, in either sweet or savoury form, which seems to break many of the accepted pastry rules but which works well.

Planning

serves:  
preparation time: 10 mins
cooking time:  

Ingredients

  • 8 oz self-raising flour
  • pinch salt
  • 1 oz. caster sugar (optional)
  • 2 oz. butter
  • 2 oz block margarine
  • 1 oz lard
  • 1 egg yolk
  • milk, to mix

Method

Sift the flour, salt and caster sugar (if using) into a mixing bowl. Rub in the butter, margarine and lard with the finger tips to the fine breadcrumb stage. Add the egg yolk and enough milk to mix to a pliable dough using a round bladed knife. Turn the dough on to a lightly floured surface and knead lightly until smooth and even.


Get a pdf version of this recipe

Posted in Basics Tagged with:

Shepherd’s Pie

Posted on by JC — No Comments ↓

The old English classic; this version being just a minor modification to one from The Cookery Year published by the Reader’s Digest Association. Some interesting (healthier?) variations can be made by using alternative toppings such as sweet potato or a 50/50 mix of celeriac and potato.

Planning

serves: 4
preparation time: 30 mins
cooking time: 45 mins

Ingredients

  • 2 onions, finely chopped
  • 75g butter
  • 500g minced lamb
  • 125ml stock (preferably lamb but …)
  • 1 tbs tomato purée
  • ½ tsp Worcestershire sauce
  • salt & pepper
  • 2-3 tbs milk
  • 500g mashed potatoes (or alternative)

Method

Preheat the oven to 220°C/425°F/gas 7.

Fry the onions gently in 25g of the butter until soft. Add the lamb and cook until browned, stirring to break up the meat and brown evenly. Stir in the stock, tomato purée and Worcestershire sauce, then season to taste.

Beat the remaining butter into the potatoes together with the milk. Put the meat in a greased ovenproof dish, cover with the potato mixture and score the top lightly with a fork. Bake near the top of the oven for about 30 minutes until the top is brown.


Get a pdf version of this recipe

Posted in Meat Tagged with:

Salsa Verde

Posted on by JC — No Comments ↓

A wonderful little je ne sais quoi for adding some extra interest to plain grilled fish – Gilthead Bream or Red Snapper, for example. It’s also excellent with a grilled steak such as sirloin or rib-eye.

Planning

serves: 4
preparation time: 10 mins
cooking time: n/a

Ingredients

  • 1 small clove of garlic, crushed
  • 6 anchovy fillets
  • 2 tbs capers
  • ~ 30g fresh parsley, leaves picked
  • ~10g fresh basil, leaves picked
  • ~ 10g fresh mint, leaves picked
  • 1 tsp Dijon mustard
  • 6-8 tbs olive oil
  • juice of ½ lemon
  • salt & pepper

Method

Chop all the solid ingredients together until they reach your preferred consistency. (I like it quite well chopped but still with a little texture, some people prefer a coarser texture.) Transfer this mixture to a bowl and stir in the mustard and some olive oil. Season to taste with the lemon juice, salt and pepper. (You shouldn’t need much salt because of the anchovies.) Adjust the consistency to something like unwhipped double cream by adding olive oil.


Get a pdf version of this recipe

Posted in Accompaniments, Sauces Tagged with:

Salmon l’Avenue

Posted on by JC — No Comments ↓

One of the most memorable meals I have had was in San Francisco at a restaurant called l’Avenue. It was salmon with a lobster sauce, topped with a julienne of carrot and leek. This is an attempt to create that dish. The sauce is actually adapted from a crayfish sauce recipe courtesy of Keith Floyd in his Floyd on Fish .

Planning

serves: 4
preparation time: 45 mins
cooking time: 40 mins

Ingredients

  • salt and pepper

Method

 


Get a pdf version of this recipe

Posted in Fish Tagged with:

Salmon en Croute

Posted on by JC — No Comments ↓

This recipe is an adaptation of one in the Reader’s Digest Cookery Year . The original uses double cream in the asparagus mixture but I find that light cream cheese binds it better and has less tendency to wet the pastry. It also wraps the salmon in bacon before wrapping it in pastry, which I prefer to omit, letting the salmon speak for itself.

Planning

serves: 4
preparation time: 45 mins
cooking time: 40 mins

Ingredients

  • 3-4 lb salmon (preferably wild, dream on)
  • 3/4 – 1 lb asparagus (or 12 oz. can of asparagus spears)
  • 2 tbs cream cheese
  • 1/2 tsp chopped fresh dill
  • 8 oz prepared puff pastry
  • 1 egg, beaten
  • siliconized baking parchment
  • salt and pepper

Method

Wash the salmon thoroughly under running water. Remove the head and tail from the salmon. Take the two side fillets off the backbone and skin them. Remove as many pin bones as possible with tweezers.

If you are using fresh asparagus, wash and trim it then steam it until the tips are soft to the touch. Alternatively, open the can of asparagus spears with panache and drain them. By whichever route you got here, rub the asparagus spears through a sieve. Beat into this the cream cheese, the chopped dill and season to taste with salt and pepper.

Divide the pastry into two halves and roll both into sheets large enough to cover the salmon, leaving an edge to seal both together. Place one side of the salmon on one sheet of the pastry, spread the asparagus puree over it and place the second salmon fillet on top so as to reform the fish. Moisten the edges of the pastry with water, put the second pastry sheet on top of everything and seal the parcel all around.

Place the salmon on a sheet of baking parchment on a baking tray. Cut three vents in the pastry parcel to allow steam to escape during baking. Brush the pastry with the beaten egg and bake in the centre of a pre-heated oven at mark 7 for 20 minutes. Lower the heat to mark 5 and bake for a further 20 minutes.


Get a pdf version of this recipe

Posted in Fish Tagged with:

Salmon Baggins

Posted on by JC — No Comments ↓

This developed from an idea by my fish-cooking hero, Rick Stein, giving an oriental influence to a little seen ingredient called, somewhat ferociously, wolf fish. Since I can’t get wolf fish, I decided to try it with salmon. I also added some extra ingredients to bolster the vegetable content and the Asian influence.

Planning

serves: 4
preparation time: 30 mins
cooking time: 1 hr

Ingredients

  • 4 Salmon cutlets
  • 8 raw tiger prawns in the shell (heads optional)
  • 1 pt. fish stock
  • 2 oz unsalted butter
  • 1 Shallot
  • 1 stem Lemon Grass
  • 1 tiny clove of Garlic
  • 4 heads Pak Choy
  • 24 large stems fresh asparagus
  • toasted sesame oil
  • salt and pepper

Method

First finely chop the shallot and sweat it in an ounce of the butter to soften and become translucent. Meanwhile, shell (and decapitate, if appropriate) the prawns and roughly chop these offcuts before adding them to the shallots. Sweat the shells gently for 3-4 minutes to colour and extract some flavour. Now add the fish stock, bring to simmering point and cook for 20-30 minutes. Strain and reserve the stock; discard the bits.

Finely shred the lemon grass and sweat it in the remaining ounce of butter over gentle heat for a few minutes. Add the reserved stock and thinly sliced clove of garlic and simmer gently for another 15 minutes or so. Strain and reserve the stock yet again. (With all the flavour and gentle reduction it’s had, let’s now call it a sauce.)

Quarter the heads of pak choy lengthways and trim (snap) the asparagus stems. Steam these together for about 5 minutes or to your liking. Meanwhile, in a second steamer, steam the salmon cutlets for 4-5 minutes depending on thickness. Keep these and the vegetables warm.

Return the sauce to the heat and bring back to the boil. Cook the prawns in it for 1-2 minutes. Season with salt and freshly ground black pepper.

Place the pak choy in the centre of warm plates and surround it by a ?hexagon? of asparagus stems and two prawns. Drizzle a small amount of toasted sesame oil (careful, it has a strong flavour) over the pak choy. Top the pak choy with a salmon cutlet and moisten all with a little of the sauce.


Get a pdf version of this recipe

Posted in Fish Tagged with: ,

Salade Niçoise

Posted on by JC — No Comments ↓

This is my take on one of the World’s truly great salads. Apart from the quality of the ingredients, which is always crucial, one of the keys to this recipe is the presentation, in my view. The lettuce needs to be soft enough to lie relatively flat on the plates so the old round lettuce is favourite, even if unexciting.

This dish is occasionally topped with plain grilled tuna to make a more substantial meal though, in my view, it seems substantial enough as it is. (This was not always the case!)

Planning

serves: 4
preparation time: 30 mins
cooking time: 20 mins

Ingredients

  • 250g fine/French beans, trimmed & halved
  • 250g salad potatoes, quartered lengthwise
  • 1 tsp whole grain mustard
  • 2 tsp white wine vinegar
  • 2 tbs extra virgin olive oil
  • 1 head round lettuce, leaves separated
  • 6 plum tomatoes, each cut into 6 segments
  • 1 tin anchovy fillets, drained & halved lengthwise
  • 24 black olives, pitted and halved
  • 2 tbs capers, drained
  • 6 large eggs, hard-boiled, shelled & quartered
  • salt
  • 4 small tuna steaks (optional!)

Method

Boil the potatoes in salted water util just tender then refresh and drain. I like to steam the green beans above the potatoes while they are cooking but, if you can’t do this, boil them separately so that they retain some bite. Refresh and drain the beans. Dry the potatoes and beans (salad spinner or clean tea towel) and combine them in a bowl.

Make the dressing by whisking together the olive oil, wine vinegar and mustard. Add this to the potatoes and beans and mix well to allow the flavours to be absorbed.

Now, to the presentation. Line each plate with a layer of lettuce leaves. Pile some of the potatoes and bean mixture in the centre of each plate. Surround each with a ring of 6 segments of tomato alternating with 6 segments of egg, as evenly spaced as possible. Drape each egg segment with a sliver of halved anchovy fillet and sprinkle a little salt on each tomato segment. Between each tomato and egg segment, put a black olive half then scatter the capers evenly around each plate. You might also drizzle a little additional olive oil around the tomato and egg rings.

(If you are desperately hungry, sear 4 small tuna steaks on a very hot ridged grill pan being sure to keep them pink in the centre. Set these atop the piles of potato and bean salad.)


Get a pdf version of this recipe

Posted in Salads Tagged with:

Mrs Mopp’s Rough Puff Pastry

Posted on by JC — No Comments ↓

This is a cheat’s substitute for puff pastry which is really popular. The grating of the frozen butter is still hard work but it is, I am assured by my pastry chef (Carol), a darn site easier than traditional puff pastry. Oh, and the “Mrs Mopp” in question is my mother. 🙂

Planning

serves:  
preparation time: 30 mins
cooking time:  

Ingredients

  • 4 parts plain flour
  • 3 parts butter, frozen
  • pinch salt
  • water to mix

Method

Sift the flour and salt into a mixing bowl. Grate in the butter. Stir with a palette knife adding just enough water to make it begin to bind. Gather together in a ball and stop messing with it! Wrap it and rest it in the fridge for 30 minutes before using.

(Make Sausage Rolls, Salmon en Croute, Beef Wellington…)


Get a pdf version of this recipe

Posted in Basics Tagged with:

Roast Pork with Quinces

Posted on by JC — No Comments ↓

What do you do with quinces if you don’t have a sweet tooth? Since they resemble apples in flavour, are as hard as bullets and take long, slow cooking to become tender, they do make a great accompaniment to roast pork. Do be careful when you are peeling the blighters, though – knives tend to slip off.

Planning

serves: 4
preparation time: 20 mins
cooking time: 2 hrs

Ingredients

  • 3 lbs boned shoulder of pork
  • 2 large quinces
  • 2 red onions, peeled
  • 4 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
  • 2 medium red chillies, deseeded and cut in strips
  • 3 bay leaves
  • 2 tbs olive oil
  • 1 oz caster sugar
  • 1 oz light muscovado sugar
  • 2 tbs white wine vinegar
  • 4 fl oz dry white wine
  • salt and pepper

Method

Preheat the oven to 180°C/gas 4. If the shoulder has been rolled, remove the string, open it out and slash the skin with a sharp knife. Oil a roasting tin and lay the pork in it skin side upwards.

Peel, quarter and core the quinces, then cut each quarter into 2 or 3 segments. Cut the red onion into eigths lengthways. (Leaving some root on the onion will help to hold it together.) Surround the pork with the onion, quinces, chillies and bay leaves.

Mix together the oil, vinegar, wine, sugars, salt and pepper an dspoon it over the pork, quinces and onions. Cover with aluminium foil and roast in the oven for 1 hour. Remove the foil, baste everything with the juices and return it to the oven to cook uncovered for a further hour. By this time the pork should be very tender and the quinces, soft. Rest the pork in a warm place for about 15 minutes before serving.


Get a pdf version of this recipe

Posted in Meat Tagged with:

JO’s Roast Pork Loin

Posted on by JC — No Comments ↓

This recipe is courtesy of Jamie Oliver, transcribed from his Jamie’s Kitchen , quantities adjusted for four people. (Any more hungry Horaces, and I don’t know where to find a roasting pan large enough!)

Planning

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

Ingredients

  • ½ pork loin, rib end
  • 4 large parsnips, peeled and halved lengthways
  • 4 red onions, peeled
  • 4 eating apples
  • 1 large handful fresh sage leaves
  • 1 tsp ground allspice
  • ½ tsp grated nutmeg
  • 2 cloves garlic, peeled
  • zest of 1 orange
  • 100g butter, softened
  • salt & pepper

Method

Preheat the oven to 220°C/425°F/gas 7.

Parboil the parsnips and onions in salted water for about 5 minutes, then drain. Remove the pork skin leaving about ½cm fat on the pork loin. If not already scored (as it should be), score the pork skin about 1cm apart. Season well with salt and pepper and place it on a tray in the oven to go crisp (it should take about 15 – 20 mins). Remove and reserve (I think this is best not reheated since that seemed to make it soften a little).

In a food processor (or pestle and mortar, if you are a masochist), smash the sage leaves, allspice, nutmeg, garlic and orange zest together with a good pinch of salt and pepper. Mix this combination into the softened butter. Cut the skin of each apple around its equator (to stop them bursting when they cook). Remove the apple cores with a peeler without piercing right through the apples. Pack each apple full of flavoured butter.

Over medium high heat, brown the pork loin all over in the roasting pan you intend to use. This will give you some good roasting fat but if there is too much, drain some out. Remove the pork loin and smear the remaining flavoured butter all over the fat side. Toss the parsnips and onions into the roasting pan and turn them in the fat. Add the apples, butter side down and put the pork loin back on top, fat side uppermost. Roast in the oven for 30 minustes. Take the pan from the oven and set the pork aside while you carefully toss the parsnips and onions in the pan juices once more (trying not to disrupt the apples). Reduce the oven to 280°C/350°F/gas 4, place the pork back on top of the pan and return it to the oven for about 40 minutes (check that the pork is cooked). Allow the pork to rest for 5 minutes before slicing. Turn the oven off but keep the veggies warm in the oven until ready to serve.


Get a pdf version of this recipe

Posted in Meat Tagged with: