Local & Seasonal Food - Recipes

Ingredients

Procedure

Cinderella Pumpkin Soup (serves 6)

1 pumpkin or orange squash around 5lb/2k
4oz/110g of breadcrumbs
2oz/50g of roasted sunflower seeds
4oz/110g walnuts roughly chopped
2 pieces of preserved ginger chopped small
3oz/75g of gruyere cheese grated
3/4pt/425ml of single cream
6 spring onions or equivalent
1tbsp of parsley
Salt and pepper
Milk to top up if necessary
A little olive oil for basting

Wash the pumpkin and set aside the top to use as a lid.
Scoop out the seeds and fibres. Season the remaining flesh with salt and pepper.
Mix all the dry ingredients with the cream. Lightly season and ladle into the pumpkin. Top up with milk if necessary.
Put the lid on. Brush with olive oil and baked for about 2 hrs at 180C. Top with milk as necessary.
Serve thick, by spooning some flesh and soup into a warmed bowl. Sprinkle with toasted sunflower seeds and roasted walnuts. Eat with a with a good bread and a seasonal salad.

Parsnip and Shallot Tatin (serves 6)

Pastry to cover a 10inch/25cm tart dish for the top of the stove and the oven
For the filling
1lb/45og of shallots peeled and halved
1lb/450g of peeled parsnips
1.5oz/40g of butter
2tsp of raw cane sugar of equivalent
1tbsp of balsamic vinegar
2 tsp of soya sauce
1tsp of fresh thyme
Salt and pepper
In the tart dish melt the butter, sugar, vinegar and soya.

Moroccan Couscous with Quinces (8-10)

2 quinces (optional)
4 large onions
4 cloves of garlic
Butter and olive oil for sautéing
4 carrots
4 leeks
1lb/45og of pumpkin or squash
4 sticks of celery
8oz/225g of green cabbage diced
1lb/450g of almost cooked chick pea
1tbsp of harrissa
1/2 tsp of saffron threads
1lb/45og of chopped fresh tomatoes or 400g can
1lb of chopped courgettes
handful of fresh coriander
1tbsp of fresh mint
1 lemon
Salt and pepper
1lb/450g of couscous , stock, olive oil and the juice and zest of a lemon, 1tbsp of roasted pine kernals and or 2tbsp of raisons or chopped apricot.

Clean and peel vegetables.
Slice onions into half moons and sauté in butter and olive oil. Add garlic and cook until translucent.
Add the thinly sliced quinces and other vegetables cut into largish pieces but retain the courgettes, green cabbage and the green part of the leeks to cook later.
Stir in the harrissa, saffron and 1/2tsp of salt.
Add tomatoes and top up with some stock to just cover the vegetables. Add chick peas.
With the lid on, slow cook for 3/4hr on a low heat. The vegetable should be tender.
Prepare the couscous. Stir in 2tbsp of olive oil. Add the juice of a lemon and zest. Pour on boiling stock, about 2pts/1.2 l, until well covered. Leave the grain to swell for 10 mins and add any nut and fruit.
Meanwhile, lightly cook the green vegetable with butter, salt and a little water.. Add mint about 5 mins before the vegetables are ready.
Add greens to the stew.
Serve with couscous, sprinkled with coriander and garnished with lemon.

French Apple Tart (serves 6)

12oz/350g of shortcrust pastry.
1.5lb/800g of Cox’s easting apples of similar
5oz/150g of unrefined caster sugar
1/2 jar of apricot jam
3/4 pt /425ml of single cream
4 eggs
Vanilla essence
1/2 tsp of grated nutmeg

Core the eating apples. Do not peel. Cut in half and slice thinly and evenly. Sprinkle with caster sugar.
Beat eggs and sugar together. Gradually add the cream and the vanilla essence.
Arrange the apples in a ‘wheel’ spiralling into the centre.
Pour on cream and egg mixture. Sprinkle with nutmeg.
Bake at 200C/gase mark 6 for 15 mins and reduce to 180C and gas mark 4 for 30mins.
Should be golden in colour and the custard should be set.

Casserole of Partridge

Partridge from Willo Game
Seasoning
Butter
1 oz Cowshill bacon per bird
4 oz button mushrooms per bird
3 oz shallots per bird          
½ gill stock per bird
2 glasses local red wine per bird

Season the birds inside and out.  Truss.
Fry the bacon and shallots lightly and put in the bottom of a casserole.
Fry the birds until brown all over and put on top of bacon and shallots.
Fry the mushrooms very lightly and add.
Add the stock, cover and cook in a very moderate over for a further ¾ hour.
Thicken with butter and flour mashed together and stirred into the liquid.

Venison Stew

Cut the venison into 2-inch cubes and marinate for 6-8 hours.
Remove the venison from the marinade and dry.  Roll the cubes in seasoned flour.
Dice the bacon and sauté until golden.  Place in a casserole. 
Saute the venison in the bacon fat until brown.  Place in casserole.
Slice the onions and sauté in the fat until browned.  Add to the casserole. 
Add carrots, herbs, red wine, garlic and seasoning.
Cover and cook in a slow oven for 3 hours.  Just before serving, stir in the redcurrant

Pheasant breast with apples

With a sharp knife, score the thick end of each pheasant breast.
In a medium heavy frying pan melt half of the butter over a medium heat. Add the onion and cook for 8­10 minutes until golden, stirring occasionally. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the onion to a plate.
Cut each apple quarter crossways into thin slices. Melt half of the remaining butter in the pan and add the apple slices. Sprinkle with the sugar and cook the apple slices slowly for 5­7 minutes until golden and caramelized, turning occasionally. Transfer the apples to the plate with the onion and wipe out the pan.
Add the remaining butter to the pan and increase the heat to medium-high. Add the pheasant breasts, skin side down, and cook for 3­4 minutes until golden. Turn and cook for a further 1­2 minutes until the juices run slightly pink when the thickest part of the meat is pierced with a knife. Transfer to a board and cover to keep warm.
Add the Cider to the pan and boil over a high heat until reduced by half. Add the stock, thyme, a little salt and the white pepper and reduce by half again. Stir in the cream, bring to the boil and cook for 1 minute. Add the reserved onion and apple slices to the pan and cook for 1 minute.
Slice each pheasant breast diagonally and arrange on warmed plates. Spoon a little sauce with the onion and apples over the pheasant breast.

Add the remaining butter to the pan and increase the heat to medium-high. Add the pheasant breasts, skin side down, and cook for 3­4 minutes until golden. Turn and cook for a further 1­2 minutes until the juices run slightly pink when the thickest part of the meat is pierced with a knife. Transfer to a board and cover to keep warm.
Add the Cider to the pan and boil over a high heat until reduced by half. Add the stock, thyme, a little salt and the white pepper and reduce by half again. Stir in the cream, bring to the boil and cook for 1 minute. Add the reserved onion and apple slices to the pan and cook for 1 minute.
Slice each pheasant breast diagonally and arrange on warmed plates. Spoon a little sauce with the onion and apples over the pheasant breast

Rabbit with Onion, Wine and Chorizo

3lb of rabbit—jointed (order through La Bodega)
1oz of butter and 2tbsp of olive oil
4 cloves of garlic
1 1/2 onions sliced
2 oz of seasoned flour
2 oz of streaky bacon chopped
1 oz of thinly sliced chorizo
1.2 pt of stock
1/2 pt of red wine
1 tbsp of tomato puree
Bouquet garni
1 tsp of cinnamon and 1 tsp of mustard
Salt and pepper

Fry onions in butter and oil.
Check rabbit joints for splinters, dredge in seasoned flour and add to onions with the bacon and chorizo. Saute until brown. Add the garlic.
Add the bouquet garni, wine and stock and bring to boil. Season. Simmer for two hours.
Add tomato puree, the mustard and cinnamon and a squeeze of lemon if needed.
Serve hot with a potato and celeriac mash and spiced red cabbage.
Keep it to the next day and it will be even better.

Easy Sausages With Lentils

Put lentils onto cook. If using the Norcia lentils, they should take about 25mins to cook to almost soft enough to eat. Drain.
Slice the onions and fry slowly in olive oil until soft and sweet. Remove from the pan. Fry the sausages until almost cooked. Remove from the pan.
Return the onions to the same pan. Squash a garlic clove with the width of the knife and chop. Add to the onion. Add thyme and or the parsley stems, retaining some of the leaf. Add red wine. Bubble and stir to get the caramelised bits left from cooking the sausages. Add lentils you have cooked or tinned and drained lentils. Add some stock or a crumble of stock cube and water.
Return the sausages to the pan. Gently cook to allow the sausages and lentils to finish Variations: Use less lentil and serve with a good creamy mashed potato laced with wholegrain mustard or flavoured with gently fried leek.

Slow Roast Belly of Pork

Preheat the oven to 220 or gas mark 7.
Chop and mash or ‘blitz’ with a food processor, the sage, rosemary and garlic with the lemon juice and zest to get a paste.
With a sharp knife, and I do mean sharp, cut into the skin of the belly pork. Cut to make diamonds.
Rub the paste over the flesh but avoid the skin.
Blot the skin again with kitchen paper and if you like salt rub sea salt over the skin. It helps make the crackling crisper.
Put into a roasting tray, flesh down and skin up. Start the roasting at 220 for 20 minutes or longer until the skin is firm and golden. Reduce the heat to 160 and mark 3 for a further 2 hours or until the juices run clear.

Lift the pork out of the pan and leave it to rest. Consider the pan juices. You can pour of the juices and use as a gravy. You might bubble white wine in the pan with the juice, but I would be wary if the pan looks too caramalised. If you want to make the juices go further use a light stock to add.

Slice the belly port into thick long slices. You will need a good knife.

Serve with a simple colcannon. Shred some winter cabbage. Cook quickly in boiling water or stir fry. Fold into a good creamy mash. Dot with butter and crisp in the oven or in a pan on the stove.
Variation: Fry shredded cabbage with onions and sprinkle with caraway seed.

Another Slow Cooked Belly of Pork Recipie

4 mandarins or sweet oranges. I have made with both and prefer the sweeter mandarins.
lots of thyme
lots of rosemary, although I did not have any and used coriander instead – go figure
the recipe called for a whole head of garlic, I used 4 cloves
olive oil
Coswhill belly pork. Remove from packing. Blot dry and store in the fridge until ready to use.
Coarse sea salt and black pepper
500 ml of white wine

For cooking the reduction
250 mls of orange juice
90 mls of balsamic vinegar, I used a vincotto
80g of honey
5 star anise

Preheat the oven to its highest setting.

With a very sharp knife. Cut the belly port skin into diamonds.
Blitz the herbs, garlic and oil into a paste. Run the paste into the fleshy side of the belly pork.
Halve the mandarins or oranges, place cut side up in a baking tray and sit the belly pork on the fruit fleshy side down. Sprinkle the skin with sea salt and rub gently.
Blast in a hot oven, turning occasionally, until skin is firm and golden. Will take 30 mins or longer if you are using a very large piece.

Reduce the oven to 160 or gas mark 3. Pour the white wine into the tray avoiding the skin and cook for an hour. If the skin begins to turn black, cover with foil. For the last stage of cooking reduce the heat to 110 or mark 1 for another hour and leave uncovered. When ready the skin should be crackled and thoroughly dry.

Meanwhile prepare the sauce/reduction. Put all the ingredients into a heavy-based saucepan over a medium heat. Bring to a boil, lower heat and simmer for 45 mins or until it has thicked and reduced to about 1/3rd of its initial volume. Remove from heat but keep warm.

To serve, take the pork out of the wine based cooking fluids. Cut the pork belly into thick slices. Plate with the mandarin, spoon on the juices from the pork (beware the fat) and drizzle over the orange, balsamic and honey reduction. Put both the remaining mixtures into separate jugs to serve on the side.

Serve with roast potatoes and something green such a green beans, broccoli or brussels sprouts.

Plenty for 6.
Using a heavy based pan, melt the butter and fry the bacon/pancetta to get the juices running. Stir in the onion. Stir in the carrot and celery. Stir in the mushrooms. Tuck int he bay leaves and cook for 10 minutes over a moderate heat.
Turn up the heat and tip in the meat. Break up with a fork. Leave to cook for a few minutes. Turn the meat as it starts to brown. Leave to colour.
Mix in the garlic. Add the tomatoes, red wine, stock, a good grating of nutmeg, some salt and pepper. Bring to a boil. Turn the heat down until the sauce barely bubbles. Let it putter away for an hour and a half. Check the liquid levels and do not let it dry.

When ready to serve, stir in the milk or cream and check seasoning.

Serve with a pasta such as spaghetti lunghi—long dried pasta dried over a pole so that it has kink or an egg pasta such as garganelli.

Serving. Cook the pasta until just ready. Drain and add to the sauce and turn through the sauce before serving. Serve with a dusting of fine grated parmesan.

Variations. You can treat the bolognese as a meat sauce. Serve with roast squash. Cut into big wedges and remove the seeds. Sprinkle with thyme, a bit of chilli and some salt and roast in the oven.

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