Pumpkin time!

It's that time of year again super markets are bursting with pumpkins. While most people carve scary faces and put a candle in them there are plenty of ways to cook with them. From pumpkin pie to pumpkin risotto the possibilities are endless. We had a carving competition in our house (I think I won) and had lots of left over pumpkin 'guts'. Rather than throw it in the bin a quick sift through results in a lot of pumpkin seeds. Keep a few back for the garden next year and put the rest on a baking tray drizzle with olive oil and sea salt. Slow roast them at 100C for an hour stirring them as you go and the results are divine. Eat them as a quick snack or sprinkle them over salads.

Slow roasted pumpkin seeds with olive oil and sea salt

Tonight is roast chicken night in our house, I always roast our chickens in a tagine pot it helps to keep the chicken moist and you can add vegetables into the tagine to cook along with the chicken. Tonight I tried chilli pumpkin in the tagine and whenever they are in season we are having them in our roast! Here's how I did it:

Serves 4
Ingredients
1/2 pumpkin skinned and cut into cubes
4 garlic cloves finely chopped
1 red chilli seeded and sliced
1 tsp paprika
Salt and pepper
Splash of olive oil

Method
Put all of the ingredients into a bowl and mix well, when the chicken has been cooking for about 20 minutes add the pumpkin to the tagine cover and cook for a further 45 minutes. If you don't have a tagine use whatever you are cooking your chicken in and cover it with foil. The added bonus of cooking the pumpkin in with the chicken is that as it cooks the pumpkin will soak up all the chicken juices. After 45 minutes has passed remove the tagine's lid or foil, turn up the oven a bit and cook for another 15 minutes to crisp up the pumpkin and chicken skin. Serve with your choice of vegetables and gravy and enjoy!

Roast chicken with goose fat roasted potatoes, steamed broccoli and chilli roasted pumpkin 

Oriental style duck pancakes

As I've mentioned before growing up in Hong Kong really gave me a passion for Chinese food, both cooking and eating it. As a pub chef I often used to put on themed nights and Oriental night was always very popular both with the customers and my brigade of chefs in the kitchen.
These duck leg pancakes are a version of the great Peking Duck, you can opt to use a whole duck (if your feeding a few people!) or duck legs as I've done here. Another option is to buy the Oriental pancakes but if you prefer to give making them a go it's really simple.

Ingredients (serves 2 people)
2 large duck legs
180g Goose fat
2 tbsp honey dissolved in warm water
Sweet chilli sauce
Hoi sin sauce
1/2 cucumber sliced finely
8 spring onions sliced finely
For the pancakes:
225g plain flour
155ml boiling water
1 tsp vegetable oil
Roasted sesame oil

Method
Place the duck legs on a wire rack over a plate or baking dish and pour boiling water over them to tighten the skin. While the duck legs are still warm brush them with the honey and water solution and leave to stand in a cool and airy place for at least 6 hours or over night in a fridge.
Heat some oil in a frying pan and seal the duck legs. Place them in a roasting tray skin side down with the goose fat, cover with foil and roast in an oven at 150C after an hour turn the legs over, cover with foil and roast for another hour.
As this is going on it's time to prepare the pancakes. Sift the flour into a bowl, slowly pour in the boiling water, then add the vegetable oil and knead into a firm dough. over with a damp tea towel and set aside for 30 mins. Turn the dough onto a floured surface and knead for 10 mins or until it becomes smooth. Divide the dough into equal sized balls, the picture below will give you a rough idea of how big.

Dough balls ready

Press the dough balls with the palm of your hand into a flat disc. Brush one disc with a little sesame oil and put another disc on top. Using a rolling pin flatten each pair of discs into a 15cm pancake. Heat an ungreased  wok or frying pan over a high heat, then reduce the heat to low and put the pairs of pancakes (one at a time) into the pan. When brown spots start to appear flip them over and cook the other side.

Pancakes cooking

When the second side is cooked lift the pancakes out and carefully peel them apart (they will be HOT!). Fold each pancake in half with the cooked side facing inwards and set aside under a damp cloth. 

Just before serving steam the pancakes for about 10 mins. When the duck legs are cooked heat the oven up to 220C take off the foil and cook for a further 5 mins to crisp up the skin. Take them out of the oven and place them on a wire rack.

Crispy duck legs!

When the legs have had a minute or two to cool a bit shred them with a fork, serve with the pancakes, spring onion, cucumber, sweet chilli and Hoi sin sauce and enjoy! Man man chi!

My most popular lamb dish

As the Wiltshire chef I do a lot of fine dinning dinner parties in peoples homes. Needless to say the host always wants to 'wow' their guests with the food, the most popular main course dish is Rack of lamb with a goat's cheese and rosemary crust served on dauphinoise potatoes with a redcurrant and port jus. A bit of a mouthful (no pun intended) I know but below I'll talk you through each step.

 Ingredients (serves 4)
4 x 3 bone rack of lamb
Dijon mustard
2 x slices white bread
1 x sprig of rosemary
2 x slices goat's cheese
4 x maris piper potatoes
1/2 x sliced onion
1/2 pint double cream
1 x garlic glove crushed
2 x shots of port
2 x tbl spoons of redcurrant jelly
1 x pint quality beef stock (thickened)

Rack of lamb with a goat's cheese and rosemary crust

Method

Firstly ensure there are no bits of meat left on the exposed bones by scraping them off with a knife. Then seal the racks in a hot frying pan ensuring all of the lamb is seared on the outside. In a food processor blitz together the rosemary (taken off the stalk), bread (tear it up, makes things easier), goat's cheese and seasoning. Brush the side of the rack opposite the the bones with the Dijon mustard then press the processed mixture onto the mustard and ensure it sticks. Roast the racks in an oven at 220 C for 15 minutes (serve pink, if you don't like pink meat then roast them for a further 5 minutes).

To make the dauphinoise potatoes peel and thinly slice the potatoes. Fry the sliced onions in a little olive oil (keep some back for the sauce) for a minute then add the garlic and double cream add the potatoes and bake in an oven proof dish at 220 C for half an hour or until a knife slides though the potatoes. 

To make the sauce (or jus if you want to sound like a pro!) heat some olive oil in a sauce pan then fry the onions for a minute then add the port (careful it might ignite!) and let it simmer for a minute to burn off the alcohol, add the redcurrant jelly, beef stock and the stalk from the rosemary and simmer. Reduce by a third and strain through a sieve into another sauce pan. 

When I cook this meal I would prep the lamb first, then make and cook the potato. Then I would make the sauce and finally roast the lamb. When plating up I use a circular cake cutter in the center of a plate and fill it with the potatoes. Then I would cut the lamb in half and place it on the potatoes and spoon the sauce around the potatoes. I normally serve it with purple sprouting broccoli and garnish it with a sprig of rosemary or thyme. Good luck and have fun!