Moules Marinieres

The summer's gone, time to face the facts. However as one door closes another opens as some of the best food is now available as the night's get longer. Root vegetables ideal for warming winter stews are now being pulled from the ground and game season has started. Also they say (I'm not too sure who these 'they' people are but they seem to know a lot) never buy/eat mussels unless the month has an 'r' in it's spelling. Mussels like cold water and grow nice and big as the winter draws in. As we are in our second month with an 'r' in it's spelling I felt it was time to share my Moules marinieres recipe. If  you're lucky enough to live on the coast and get to pick your own make sure you do it away from any built up areas, mussels are the sea's filters so you wouldn't want to eat anything nasty. This recipes originates from Belgium, the original recipe does not have cream in it but I like a splash to make the sauce nice and thick. When buying mussels if you can get them already cleaned then great. If not then make sure you pull the little 'beards' of each one and make sure you take off any barnacles etc. from their shells. Discard any that don't close when you give them a tap with the back of a knife, they will be dead. Before cooking give them a nice purge in some fresh water, when the water running off them is clear then they are ready for the pot.

Moules Marinieres

Ingredients (serves 2)

3 kg mussels
1 glass of good quality white wine (if you wouldn't drink it then don't cook with it!)
3 garlic cloves crushed
1/2 an onion finely diced 
1/2 pint double cream
1 tsp butter
1 spring onion sliced for a garnish
Lemon wedge
Splash of olive oil

Method
Get a sauce pan hot, add the olive oil and then the onions. Fry for a minute then add the garlic, fry for another minute then add the mussels and give them a good stir. Next add the white wine (careful of the steam!) give it all a good stir and put a lid on the sauce pan. Let it all cook for about 2 minutes shaking the pan (with your hand on the lid!) every now and then. After 2 minutes has passed with your hand on the lid make a small crack between the pan and lid and pour out the cooking liquid leaving a little bit behind. Then pour in the double cream and the butter and bring back to the boil. When the cream comes to the boil it's ready, garnish with the chopped spring onion and serve! Discard any that haven't opened and enjoy!

Easter recipes #2

Roast leg of lamb

With Easter on the horizon it's time to get thinking about Sunday lunch. The last blog was a relatively easy recipe allowing you to spend time with your family, this one is a bit more 'hands on' but the rewards are worth it. A roast dinner is a simple dinner to put together as long as all the prep work is done in advance. Below is a step by step guide that will hopefully make things run smoothly.

Ingredients (serves 4)

1 leg of lamb

1 bunch of rosemary

3 garlic cloves peeled

6 medium sized maris piper potatoes

Vegetables of your choice

Goose fat

Good quality gravy thickener

Salt and pepper for seasoning

Olive oil

Splash of red wine

Method

First get your oven to 220C and start peeling your vegetables (this can be done a few hours before) and keep the peelings. Put all the peelings and any bits of root vegetables (not the potatoes) you're not using in a sauce pan with a splash of oil and fry for a minute then add the red wine and let it simmer for 2 minutes to burn off the alcohol. Pour in some water (to fill about 2/3 of the pan) and leave to simmer (this will be the stock for the gravy). Peel the potatoes and cut them into roast potato size and leave them in water. Put the leg on lamb in a roasting dish, pour on a little of the olive oil. Make a few cuts into the meat and stuff them with the garlic cloves, season then place some sprigs of rosemary over the meat.

Leg of lamb ready for the oven

Place the lamb in the oven, after 10 minutes take it out, cover it in foil then put it back in the oven for an hour and a half or 2 hours if you prefer it cooked through. In the mean time start cooking the potatoes in boiling water. When you can put a knife easily through them drain them into a colander or sieve and leave to dry out, then 'rough' them up a bit by shaking whatever you have them in. The more edges the potatoes have the more 'crispier' they will be at the end. Heat up the goose fat in an oven tray in the oven until the fat starts to smoke a bit. Pour a little olive oil over the potatoes, season and carefully place them on the oven tray being careful not to splash your self with the oil. Using a spoon cover the potatoes with the goose fat and put them back in the oven. They should take just under an hour to get nice and golden. Every now and then take them out of the oven and turn them over so you get a nice colour on all sides. Get your preferred vegetables cooked, to make things easier you can cook them in advance and heat them up in the microwave if you have one.

Lamb ready to eat!

When the lamb is cooked take it out of the oven put it on a chopping board and cover it in foil to let it rest. Get as much fat out of the roasting dish as you can and place it on the heat, pour the stock from the peelings through a sieve into the roasting dish and get it on the heat. Using a wooden spoon scrape up all the residue left over from the lamb and let it simmer for a few minutes. Pour this mixture back through a sieve into a sauce pan and return it to the heat. Thicken with the gravy thickener and leave to simmer gently. When the lamb has rested carve it up, heat the vegetables and serve! ENJOY!

  

My little family about to enjoy a roast!

Easter recipes #1

Slow roasted belly of pork infused with thyme and garlic, on a coarse grain mustard mash with a cider and apple jus. 

With Easter soon approaching it's time to start thinking about what to cook. This blog will come in two parts, the first being a roast you can put in the oven and leave to do it's thing for a few hours giving you more time with your family. The second will be a bit more hands on needing a bit more attention. The first recipe will be a belly of pork dish. This cut of meat needs a slow cooking process and a low heat then to finish it off it needs a hot blast in the oven to crisp it up giving you perfect crackling.

Photo courtesy of Wiltshire Society magazine (from a recipe feature I was in)

Ingredients
(Serves 4)
1 kg of pork belly
1 bunch of thyme
2 garlic cloves
6 medium maris piper potatoes
1 tbsp coarse grain mustard
1 knob of butter
1 large onion diced
1/2 pint of cider
1/2 pint good quality beef stock (thickened)
2 tbsp chunky apple sauce
100g salt crystals
Pepper for seasoning
Olive oil

Method
First if it's not tied tie up the belly of pork into a joint, then stuff the thyme and sliced garlic clove into the joint. Then pour boiling water over the belly, this helps to dry it out and give perfect crackling. Drizzle some olive oil over the belly and cover with the salt. Place some of the diced onion onto a roasting tray and put the belly on top. Cover with foil and roast in an oven at 150C for 3 hours. After 3 hours remove the foil and brush off the salt and cook for a further 30 minutes at 220C.
To make the mash peel and dice the potatoes, boil until tender then mash. Add the butter, mustard and season.
To make the sauce fry the remaining onions in a sauce pan with some chopped garlic. After 1 minute add the cider and let it reduce by half. Add the apple sauce and stock, reduce by 1/3 and season.
Slice the belly into 'steak' size and serve on the mash with the sauce around it, serve and enjoy!

Individual Beef Wellingtons

The Beef Wellington (not named after the 1st Duke of Wellington, it was apparently invented for a civic reception in Wellington, New Zealand) is a very famous and decadent dish. There are many variations and mine is an adaption of Gordon Ramsey's where he uses Parma ham around the fillet opposed to a crepe, which helps to keep the moisture away from the puff pastry. Instead of using a whole fillet of beef (a bit expensive and you'd need 8 hungry mouths) this recipe is for individual steaks. It's quite a simple recipe so give it a go you'll be glad you did! I served mine on dauphinoise potatoes with purple sprouting broccoli and a red wine reduction.

Ingredients (serves 4)
For the Wellingtons:
4 8oz fillet steaks
250g ready made puff pastry
6 chestnut mushrooms
1/2 red onion finely diced
Handfull of washed spinach
2 gloves of crushed garlic
4 slices of Parma ham
1 sprig of thyme
1 egg beaten
For the dauphinoise potatoes:
4 maris piper potatoes
1/2 red onion sliced
1/2 pint double cream
1 garlic glove crushed
For the red wine reduction:
1/4 of an onion chopped
1 garlic clove crushed
1 pint quality beef stock, thickened
1 glass of red wine
2 tbsp red currant jelly
12 purple sprouting broccoli stems

Method
First take your steaks out of the fridge and let them get to room temperature. Splash a bit of olive oil into a frying pan and get smoking hot, seal the steaks and set aside. Pour some of the red wine into the pan to
de-glaze it and lift up the intense steak flavours left over from the sealing process, keep this liquid. Finely chop the mushrooms and fry them in a pan with the onion, thyme and garlic, when it's cooked (after 2 mins) add a splash of red wine and the spinach and keep cooking until the spinach has wilted, season. Roll out or unroll the pastry on a floured surface and let it get to room temperature (makes it easier to work with). Instead of covering the entire steak in pastry we're going to make a lattice effect with the pastry. You can buy a small roller that does it for you but it can easily be done with a knife:

 
Using a knife measure out the width of each steak and measure it out on the pastry and cut it into a rectangle. Then with a sharp knife cut through the pastry like the picture above. When you've done this gently stretch out the pastry like the picture below:

Top each steak with the fried mushroom and onion mixture (duxelle) and wrap them in the Parma ham. Then carefully lay the pastry over each steak and tuck the pastry underneath and brush with the beaten egg:

The Wellingtons are now ready for cooking and can be stored in the fridge for around 12 hours if needed to. Now it's time to make the dauphinoise potatoes, peel and thinly slice the potatoes. Fry the sliced onions in a little olive oil for a minute then add the garlic and double cream. Then add the potatoes and bake in an oven proof dish at 220C for half an hour or until a knife slides easily through the potatoes.
For the sauce fry the chopped onions for a minute in a little olive oil then add the garlic and red wine. Simmer this mixture for 3 minutes to burn off the alcohol then add the stock and redcurrant jelly. Leave to simmer until it reduces by half.
Cook each Wellington on a greased baking tray at 220C, when the pastry is golden brown then they are medium rare and ready! If you prefer your steaks cooked a little more turn the oven down to 175C and add a further 3 minutes for medium or 7 for well done. Boil some water in a pan and cook the broccoli, once it comes back to the boil add 2 minutes and it's cooked. Place the potatoes in a circular cake cutter in the middle of a plate, pour the sauce around the potatoes put the Wellington on top and place the broccoli on the plate. Now you're ready to impress! Good luck and have fun......

 

Wiltshire food producers - Bush Farm Bison Centre

Local food producers are my heroes. It takes a lot of effort and determination to get a product out into the market when all the big corporations are swamping us with their cheap deals and special offers. (A short rant which is now over).
I recently paid a visit to Bush Farm Bison centre in Wiltshire (http://www.bisonfarm.co.uk/index.htm) where I met the very friendly and informative Colin Seaford and his wife Pepe. Colin has had an interest in Bison since a young age and now has over 74 on his secluded farm that is open to the public in the summer months. They also have elk, red deer and prairie dogs!

One of Colin's impressive Bison

Bison are big, big and fast. They are built more like a horse than cattle and on a sprint start they can out run a  horse. All the Bison were in from the fields kept in yards sorted by age, I was a little bit nervous when Colin suggested we go into one of the yards to get a better look. We toured round 3 different yards the last one containing the biggest Bison (not that my back catalogue of Bison is that big - my dad and I crept quite close to one to get a picture in Yellowstone Park in the US). He was massive towering over the rest of the Bison and apparently weighed in at over a ton. 'He's alright' said Colin 'but I wouldn't trust him. She's a nice Bison I can get quite close to her' pointing out a rather impressive female, 'That one however, I would trust her at all, she once chased me on my quad bike out of a field. She was gaining so much ground on me that when I got to the gate I had to jump off the bike straight over it!' Bison aren't for milking then? 'Why would you want to get near an armed animal?' Wise words indeed.

The one not to trust!

One thing Colin was adamant about is that Bison meat does not fall under the 'exotic meats' category. Bison once roamed all over Europe and when Britain became an island they were hunted to extinction. The meat itself has a sweeter flavour than beef, it's not gamey or wild tasting. Bison carry very little fat and the meat has no marbling unlike beef or lamb, it is very high in protein and lower in fat, cholesterol and calories than most other meats. With less than 50 calories per ounce Bison meat has been used by several weight loss programmes.

I came away with two sirloin steaks and really wanted to do them justice and rather than have steak and chips. So after racking my brain I came up with a dish that would compliment the Bison.  

Sirloin of Bison

The Bison meat doesn't take much cooking and we had ours rare. I served it on sweet potato mash with wilted spinach, caramelized baby beetroot, oven roasted baby carrots, parsnip crisps and a red wine and redcurrant jus. It was without doubt one of the tastiest steaks I've ever had (on par with kangaroo fillet) and now I'm a big fan. I would definitely recommend a trip to Bush Farm Bison centre and whilst you're there get some meat. All purchases come with a leaflet with Bison cooking tips and some information about the animals, their sirloin is so good that it won the Guild of fine foods three star award in 2011 and 2012. Just don't get too close to the Bison!

Making pizza with my kids

Another wet day here in Wiltshire and the school run was a total wash out. My two boys and I looked like we'd been for a swim in our clothes, riding bikes in the rain isn't it's all cracked up to be. After getting home, changed and putting the heating on I decided it was time the boys learnt a bit about cooking and after talking it through with our eldest (5 and three quarters) Pizza was on tonight's menu. Total carnage was what I was expecting and got!
Here's the recipe for the pizza base (made by James and Ollie):

Ingredients
(Makes 3-4 pizza bases)
500g strong white bread flour
1/2 tsp fine salt
7g sachet of dried yeast
1/2 tsp caster sugar
325ml (about 1/2 a pint) lukewarm water
Extra flour for dusting

For the child friendly version I first got all the ingredients ready in separate bowls and made sure we had a large work surface (we used the dinning room table). Most recipes say to put all the flour onto a surface, make a well in the middle then add the water, not such a good idea with little chefs so we opted for a large mixing bowl to try and contain as much mess as possible, it kinda worked.
First mix the sugar, yeast and water together. Mix well and leave for 5 minutes. Then put the flour into the bowl with the salt.

James mixing the yeast, Ollie taking care of the flour.

So far no mess! Next make a well in the middle of the flour and slowly pour in the water mixture stirring as you do.

Boys concentrating!

Mix the mixture with a fork or wooden spoon, it should start to look like stodgy porridge. When it gets to hard to stir with a fork it's time to use your hands. Flour the work surface with quite a bit of flour and empty the mixture onto it. Start stretching the flour with the bottom of your hands and do this for about 10 minutes until it becomes smooth and springy. However if your'e working with 2 little chefs let them punch it as hard as they can!

James showing the dough who's boss, Ollie shouting because he can.

Now you should be getting a mess that can only be described as a flour explosion! Put the dough back into the mixing bowl, dust with flour, cover clingfilm and leave for around 20 minutes. In the mean time, time to thank the boys for their hard work, put on Power Rangers (I really don't see the appeal) and clear up the mess.

What mess?

After the dough has had 20 minutes to do it's thing (double in size) it's time to roll out the bases. Flour your work surface and separate the dough mixture into 3 balls. Roll out into a rough circle finishing with the dough nice and thin. Heat the oven to 230C, now its time to apply your toppings. The tomato sauce is relatively easy - fry 1/2 an onion with a diced garlic glove, add chopped tomatoes and oregano and simmer for 10 minutes. Put the rolled out base onto a floured baking tray and add your ingredients, try not to over load your pizza! The boys had cheese and tomato and my wife and I had chorizo, Parma ham, asparagus, mushroom and mozzarella, and very nice it was too. Have fun!

Chorizo, Parma ham, asparagus, mushroom and mozzarella pizza 

  

Bailey's and chocolate cheesecake

Rather indulgent Bailey's and Chocolate cheesecake 

This dessert is a big favourite and always impresses, my wife and I liked it so much we had it as our wedding cake! Bailey's and chocolate are perfect together, any type of chocolate will do (white, dark etc.) and as we're using chocolate it will set the cake so no gelatin or baking is needed. It's quite a simple dessert and can be made in under half an hour, so here goes:

Ingredients:

Serves 4

300g soft cheese

3 digestive biscuits

1 tsp caster sugar

1 tsp vanilla essence

75g good quality chocolate

75ml Bailey's 

15g butter

3 tsp icing sugar

Method:

First melt the butter then put it in a food processor with the digestives, vanilla essence and caster sugar. Blitz until it looks like wet sand. Cover the bottom of the cheesecake tin with grease proof paper and put the mixture onto it and press down with the back of a spoon making sure it all sticks down. Pop it in the freezer to set. 

Melt the chocolate in the microwave (in 20 second bursts) or in a glass bowl over simmering water. When it's melted leave it to cool slightly, mix all the other ingredients in a bowl add the chocolate and mix well. Spoon the mixture on to the base and smooth the top of the cheesecake with the back of a large knife. Leave to set overnight in the fridge. Serve with vanilla ice cream or chocolate dipped strawberries. Enjoy!

Canapes

Mozzarella with Chorizo, basil and olive 

As the Wiltshire Chef I get asked to cater for many functions/dinner parties and a lot of people like to start things off with a few canapes. I recently catered for a wedding at the Inner Temple in London for 160 people where instead of a starter they wanted canapes. The 10 canapes they chose looked very impressive as the waiters and waitresses circled the 'Parliament room.' The canape that was the most well received was my chicken liver and port parfait (see below).

                                                                     

So if you're thinking of having a fine dining evening at your own home and would like to get your guests appetites going with an assortment of canapes then please get in contact at www.thewiltshirechef.com

You could chose from the list on the website or we could have a consultation and design a more bespoke menu. I hope to be cooking for you in the near future!

Visit our full website for more canapé ideas

Smoked salmon and chive cream cheese roulade