Best of British

We seem to have a lot of cooking books of regional cooking & I thought a nice way to start making more use of them was to pick a country for a Saturday night meal.  Last weekend we had two British meals which provided two midweek meals as well.  I also thought it would be a nice idea to have a seasonal arrangement of those charming mini pumpkins on the sideboard.  I just buy a couple each week & we eat our way through them.
The first British meal was venison loin with barley risotto & roasted roots.  Start with the barley because it takes a while.  Saute a thinly sliced leek with a little butter & oil & a sprig of thyme until softened.  Stir in 250g pearl barley with 1/2  the hot  chicken stock (500ml of 1 litre).  Put the lid on & simmer 20 minutes or so until all the stock is absorbed. Just keep adding stock over the next 40-60 mins until the barley has the consistency you like to eat.
While that is cooking, heat the oven to 200 & dice 1/2 a swede, 1 red onion, 1/2 large carrot & 2  turnips into 1-2cm cubes.  Toss in a roasting dish with 2 rashers chopped streaky bacon & a couple of sprigs of rosemary.  Season well & drizzle over some olive oil.  Cook 30-40 mins until the vegetables are done.
Put the leaves of two rosemary sprigs in a pestle & mortar with 5-6 juniper berries & salt & pepper.  Bash them then mix in a splash red wine vinegar & a swig of olive oil.  Rub all over your venison loin.  We had 400g for two & that stretched to 2 meals.  When you think you are 20 mins away from dishing up, heat a little olive oil in a pan to a high heat.  Cook the loin around 18 mins turning every 2 mins.  Do not overcook.  You want it rare to medium rare. Place on a warmed plate & rub it with a little butter while it rests.  Get up the roasties & stir through some marmalade which will give it a lovely gloss.  Serve it all with a few handfuls of watercress & other green leaves dressed with a little oil & balsamic.
Later in the week make a rustic huntsman's pie with the leftovers.  This is just shepherd's pie with venison.  I made a sofrito with onion, carrot & celery then added the finely chopped venison & left over barley & veg.  I topped with a mash of swede, pumpkin & potato because that is what I had in my cupboard.  You might have a different combination.  I had too much mash so I froze the surplus for another day.  My freezer is full of surplus mash which is great for a potato topped dish & sometimes I forget to label it so I am not sure which vegetable I have until it is done.
On Sunday we did Jamie Oliver's empire roast chicken. I served this with peas - it felt like the right thing to do. You could expand this if you had a crowd maybe with a variation on dhal & some spicy beans.
Leftovers became a pilaf the next day & Peter took the remainder for his lunch the day after.  For that I adapted an old favourite.  I left out the pine nuts & the preserved lemon and added a little garam masala with the turmeric.  I just added the shredded cooked chicken & peas with the rice.  I used 1 cup rice & 2 cups stock.  We served it with the cranberry sauce that needs to be used. Meals like this make weekday eating so easy.

Pasta, grains & greens

When I first introduced soup Monday I made a wonderful barley soup inspired by Alison Holst & I returned there this week.  This had two pleasing consequences.  I discovered I had more pearl barley in the cupboard than I needed & remembered a barley salad I had been meaning to make.  You could serve this with anything really but we had lamb meatballs which worked well.  Just make your favourite meatball recipe.  We included onion, garlic & cinnamon.  For the salad cook 1/2 cup of pearl barley for about half an hour until tender.  It may take a little longer.  Drain, toss through 2 tbsp olive oil & set aside to cool slightly.  In the meantime mix a cup chopped parsley, 1/4 finely diced preserved lemon, a few black olives, juice of 1/2 a lemon, crumbled feta & some finely sliced mint leaves.  Mix in the cooled barley & top with meatballs.  Good as lunch leftovers later in the week.  Look forward to lots of barley on these pages in the coming weeks.Are you wondering what the second consequence was - did you think I had forgotten?  The soup requires a can of creamed sweetcorn & I only needed 1/2  a tin for two.  We added the remaining corn to the Friday night omelette.  Try this - it was delicious.  I have a real soft spot for creamed corn.
I often think of the green vegetable first & then come up with a way to fit a meal around it.  For a simple weekday meal you can't go past Hugh F-W's macaroni peas.  Cook pasta - we used macaroni but penne or whatever shapes you have to hand would do as well.  Cook some frozen peas.  While the peas are cooking gently soften a clove of garlic in a little butter.  Blend half the peas with the butter, garlic, 25g Parmesan & enough of the pea cooking water to make a puree.  Think pesto.  Combine with the rest of the peas & pasta, add more Parmesan & mix through basil or parsley.
Roasted roots crumble seemed like a good accompaniment to leeks & greens this week.  Roast a selection of pale root vegetables - potato, parsnip, swede, celeriac - cut into smallish chunks & some sliced onion, with a mustardy dressing.  Mix equal quantities of wholegrain mustard, honey & olive oil with a good quantity of chopped rosemary and toss the veg around in it.  Cover the veg & roast at 180 for 45 minutes then uncover & cook a further 20 minutes at 200.  You want the vegetables well cooked & golden but not browned.  Pour a few tbsp cream over the vegetables - this is just to meld them together a little so you could omit if you don't have cream in the cupboard.  Top with a crumble made of a handful of rolled oats, 2-3 slices of crumbed bread, toasted hazlenut roughly chopped , grated cheese & a little melted butter.  Return to the oven for 10-15 minutes to crisp up the crumble.
We made way more than we could eat & there was a little cranbapple sauce in the fridge so the next day we had lamb rack with the left over crumble mixed with the left over leeks & greens.
If we are planning to eat mixed greens it seems impossible to buy only what we need for a single meal so another pasta & greens meal was called for.  Again this can be whatever pasta & greens you have to hand.  In our case penne & cabbage with beetroot leaves.   Soften an onion in a little oil then add finely chopped garlic & chilli & cook a little longer.  Cook the pasta in the usual way & a few minutes before the end of cooking add the shredded greens.  Drain the pasta & greens & toss with the onion mix & some grated Parmesan & a drizzle of olive oil.
There was still some spinach & beetroot leaves to use so out came that meal of the moment  - spicy potatoes with greens.  Top it with a poached egg and you have a splendid meal.
This week a work colleague gave me 5 kilos of windfall apples.  Look out for apple recipes next week.  If you have any ideas post them here.
You may remember that when I go to the market every Sunday & have a cup of chowder from Yellow Brick Road for Breakfast.  I occasionally try something different but always return to chowder.  Nothing else quite measures up - until now.  I may have found a new favourite - Vicky Ha and The Dumpling House.  Try those dumplings.  She now sells them frozen by the dozen and I am planning to buy a dozen tofu & spinach dumplings to treat a vegan.  I think my favourite is the pork & cabbage but the Nepalese lamb & veg is a close second.

Dinners to eat on your knees

Our dining table is currently away being fixed. There was a flaw in the design and the whole top is being replaced. This means we are perching on the island or eating on our laps. We need to plan our meals to fit with this arrangement.

On Saturday we had a very simple piece of John Dory grilled with skin on, served on baby leeks. Cook 8-10 baby leeks for a few minutes in boiling salted water then refresh under cold water & set aside. Soft boil 2 eggs about 7 minutes so that you can peel them but the yolk is still slightly runny. Make a mustard vinaigrette using Dijon mustard , white wine vinegar & olive oil. Grill the reserved leeks on a hot griddle pan until they are slightly coloured. Brush the John Dory fillets with butter on each side, season with salt & pepper, ands cook under a hot grill skin side up for about 4 minutes until skin is crispy. Serve the fish on top of the leeks which have been drizzled with the vinaigrette. Top with shavings of Parmesan & serve the egg halved on the side. We thought this deserved one of our bottles of Australian Riesling left us by a generous guest. We opened the Jacobs Creek Steingarten which was perfect.

Sunday was quite cool so I made a heartwarming lamb & pearl barley stew and froze the leftovers. Get your butcher to bone a shoulder of lamb & cut into largish chunks. Brown the meat in batches & set aside. In the pan, soften 1 onion finely chopped, 1 carrot finely diced, 2 sticks celery finely sliced, 3 cloves garlic, finely chopped, with a handful of chopped oregano leaves, peel of 1/2 a preserved lemon & a bay leaf. Return the lamb to the pan with a good slosh of dry white wine, a cup of pearl barley, well rinsed & drained and 750ml chicken stock. Bring to the boil and simmer very gently for a good hour or more until the barley and the lamb are both very tender. Add a handful of baby spinach & stir through to wilt. Season with the juice of 1/2 a lemon and salt & pepper. Stir through some finely chopped parsley. Pearl barley is a beautiful grain to use in winter.

During the week we used the last of the courgettes with pasta. Cut the courgettes into matchsticks & saute, then add the cooked fine ribbon pasta, a dollop of basil pesto, 1/2 an avocado cut into chunks. Mix together, season and top with grated Parmesan. I used a lemon pasta I had in the cupboard but if I hadn't I would have added a good squeeze of lemon juice.

I've been thinking about brown rice which I love but which we didn't have very often because the children weren't keen. Harriet is keen now so when she came to dine I made a very tasty rice stew which I plan to repeat. Almost a brown rice risotto. Start by soaking a handful of dried porcini in a little hot water. Soften a leek or onion or whatever you have to hand in a wide pan. Add 1 cup washed short grain brown rice and stir until shiny. Add a 1 cup vegetable stock or water and cook until the rice begins to become tender, stirring occasionally. This will take about 10 mins. Chop the softened mushrooms & add with the soaking water, making sure to leave the sediment behind. Add a tin of tomatoes and any vegetables you need to use up. I added 1/2 a chopped kamo kamo. Cook about another 10 minutes stirring occasionally. Add more water if you need to. When the rice is almost done stir through a can of drained cannellini beans. I also added a handful of spinach I needed to use up. Stir through some chopped basil & parsley & serve.

On Friday we had friends over to watch a dvd. We had chilli and a beautiful salad featuring lettuce, carrots, radishes & tomatoes from the garden.