Braised Sausages and Lentils – loosely based on Emily Watkins

 

8 good sausages

1 onion (red?)

1 smallish carrot

1 stick celery

6 sundried tomatoes

100gms Puy lentils

50gms red lentils, which will break down and thicken the liquids

chicken stock and a very little olive oil

bay leaf or two

2 glasses of good red or white wine

 

Preheat the oven to 160c.  Fry the sausages in a smear of olive oil till browned all over and remove.  Finely chop the onion, carrot and celery (very finely) and cook gently in the same pan (she adds paprika, without saying if sweet or hot.  I’m not sure).  Add the lentils and turn up the heat.  At this point, we digress.  She adds masses of tomatoes, and gets them to cook down, say 10 minutes.  I think I’d add a glass of wine (the second glass goes into the cook), let it bubble, add the chopped sundried tomatoes or a smidge of tomato paste, bay leaves (or thyme) reduce to about 2/3rds and add chicken stock and the sausages.  She cooks the dish on a burner for an hour or so, I think I’d lightly cover with foil and cook in the oven, and check after ½ an hour if it needed more heat or more liquid.

 

I tried it my way in the oven and it worked well.  You need to watch the level of the liquid.

Crusted Pork Loin – at Petit Feuga 30^th July 2012

Buy a piece of pork loin as large as you need.  It is best not to go below 6”/1+ kilos as anything smaller will be prone to dry out.  Better to buy a bigger bit and have some left for cold.  Amounts below are for a piece about 8” long/2 kilos.  (Would work for pork fillets too – cook ½ an hour?)

• A coffee mug or so of medium to fine breadcrumbs     
• A level teaspoon of dried thyme and ½ of dried oregano (either or both)
• ½ a billiard ball sized white onion, chopped very fine
• 2 good heaped teaspoons of Dijon mustard, or (probably better) 1 Dijon and 1 of a grain mustard such as Meaux
• Enough olive oil to bind.  The mixture needs to be able to cohere.  I would expect about a 1 sec pour/4 tablespoons, but it depends on your crumbs.  Fresh will need no more than that, frozen at least that and dried rather more.

Preheat oven to 170C fan/190C conventional.

Mix together well.  There should just be a little oil seeping out and the mixture will be quite sticky.

Slice the rest of the onion and another very roughly, put then into a roasting tray into which the pork will easily fit.  Toss in a little olive oil so that the onions are well covered and so are the bottom and sides of the pan.  Push them to the middle of the pan so that they will be completely covered by the pork.  Sprinkle on a little salt and if you like some dried thyme.  You could also lay a sprig or two of fresh rosemary or thyme on top of the onions if you like.

Put the pork on top of the onion bed.  Now, take about ¼ of the crumb mix, lay it along the top and pat it down so that it is an even layer about 1cm thick.  Thickness is important, it must be thick enough to stick together and to protect and baste the pork, but thin enough to cook to a crisp top and not fall apart.  Now, a spoonful at a time, build the coating downwards so that it comes almost half way down the joint.  You need to make sure that each addition has thoroughly stuck to the edges of the top.  Any bits dropped in the pan should be removed or tucked under the joint so that they do not burn and sour the gravy.

Cook for about an hour and a quarter.  Check it regularly; the tray may need turning round if your oven heats unevenly.  If it appears to be browning too fast, turn it down to 150C fan/170C conventional.  After 45 minutes, add a wineglass of water.  If you have it, use a cheap Dry Vermouth instead – better than white wine – or ½ and ½ .

When cooked, put the pork onto a warmed dish or a board (it will probably seep some juice), cover very loosely with a piece of foil and at least 2 tea towels to keep it warm.  Allow it to rest at least ½ an hour.

For the gravy, pour off as much of the oil as you can (then gently floating a double thickness of kitchen roll on top to absorb most of it is an easy way to remove a bit more).  Add a wineglass of madeira and a small splash of a good thick balsamic vinegar.  Be careful with this, a cheap sharp one will need very little indeed.  You are just trying to cut a little of the sweetness of the madeira.  Add a splash of water and boil fast for a few minutes to remove the alcohol, and reduce it by about a ¼.

Done.

Alex McKay’s Braised Chicken Thighs in Red Wine  - 11^th August 2012

As usual, I couldn’t help fiddling  with it.  Also I didn’t have enough time to do the marinade, but with a long slow cook it seems superfluous anyway.  Here is my  version.

Oven on to 150°C Fan

1 bottle red wine	4 chicken thighs
10ish black peppercorns	6 small shallots, whole, peeled
1 coffeespoon fennel seeds	8 cloves garlic, whole, peeled
1 coffeespoon coriander seeds	1/8” thick slice of parma ham, cut into thin strips
1 coffeespoon pink peppercorns	Olive oil
Strip dried orange peel	1oz butter
¼ coffeespoon cinnamon powder	1 dessertspoon flour
A few dried mushrooms	2 good pinches of sugar
A couple of chopped sundried tomatoes
2 bay leaves and/or some dried thyme

Boil all the ingredients in column 1 till reduced by 1/3^rd

In a frying pan, gently brown the chicken in oil with the skin side getting twice as much as the bottom for about 5 minutes.  Add the shallots, garlic, ham, butter and sugar and cook for another 5 minutes.  Remove chicken, shallots and garlic to a casserole in which they will comfortably fit.

Add the flour to the pan and cook slowly for 3 minutes, stirring and making sure that there are no lumps, then add the wine and spices etc.  Bring to the boil, pour over the chicken, then add enough water to bring the level to just over the top of the chicken.  If there is enough wine, still add ½ a wineglassful of water.  Put it into the oven, uncovered for 2 hours at least.  If you have more time, cook for longer at a lower temperature; 3 hours at 130°C Fan, 4 at 120°C Fan.

Remove the chicken, onions and garlic and strain the sauce (a solid cone strainer is best).  Serve.

The fennel, coriander, pink peppercorns, bay/thyme, parma ham are all mine and are optional, as is straining the sauce, which I wouldn’t do if using the ham.

If you do want to strain the sauce, alternatives would be

1.        to mash the cooked garlic into the strained liquid, and/or

2.       roughly chop the shallots or an onion at the wine boiling stage and separately slowly cook some small whole shallots and maybe button mushrooms in butter with the ham slices (as though making a coq au vin) and add them to the chicken and strained sauce at the end.

This is good.

Moroccan spiced cauliflower & almond soup.

BBC Good Food website

This is really very good indeed but I made a few twists which I think improved it. This is a very filing soup.

For 4 smallish servings

 

A medium cauliflower

2 tablespoons olive oil

½ teaspoon each of ground cinnamon, cardamom, cumin and one of cumin seeds

1 scant teaspoon rose harissa

100cl good stock

50g split almonds

25g pine nuts

Coriander leaves

Greek yoghurt

Home made spiced sherry (optional, and if you don’t already make it, do so immediately!)

 

Cut the cauli into florets; put two aside for garnish. Toss the nuts with the cumin seeds and a big pinch of sea salt in a frying pan till browned.  If you burn them, they go into the bin and you do it again as they will make everything bitter.  Unless you use a big pan, it will be easier to do it in two batches.  Put aside about a sixth for garnish.  Preheat a deep frying pan and dry roast the spices for a couple of minutes, adding plenty of ground pepper.  Add the oil and the harissa and fry for a minute or so, then add the cauliflower and toss so that the florets are coloured with the spice. Add the stock, a little salt and half a small glass of the sherry.  Simmer till the cauliflower is soft.  Pour into a food processor and blitz till very smooth.  You may need to add a glass or two of water to get it to the consistency that you prefer though it should be quite thick.  Put it back into the pan.  Taste for salt and season. 

Cut the remaining cauliflower into the tiniest of florets.  They should be no bigger than a pea, and preferably smaller, but don’t chop the poor little things.  Reheat the soup very gently; it will behave like a boiling mud pool and throw blobs all over your kitchen if it is too hot, unwatched and unstirred.

Pour into bowls.  Put a ring of bits of cauliflower round the edge.  A big neatish pinch of coriander leaves goes into the middle next, and then scatter the salted nuts as evenly as you can.  Finally, with two teaspoons, place a tidy blob of yoghurt on top.  If you can be bothered, and the harissa has plenty of oil on the top, sprinkle a few drops around the middle.

The recipe only uses the nuts and looks frankly, very beige.  We had it as a supper but the flavour is good enough to serve at a dinner party, but a tiny potion as it is surprisingly rich.  I have no idea how you would garnish it in a coffee cup; please do let me know!