Recipes

Escabeche of Herring

14-11-2009

Iain says: “Escabeche is Spanish for pickled – try it, it’s delicious.”

8 herring fillets

seasoned plain flour

10 tbsp olive oil

6 tbsp red wine vinegar

1 thinly sliced red onion

zest of one orange

sprig fresh thyme

sprig fresh rosemary

1 bay leaf

2 cloves crushed garlic

pinch dried chilli powder

pinch sea salt

pinch black pepper

chopped fresh coriander

Dust fillets with flour and sear in a hot pan for 30 seconds each side.

Place in dish and cover with marinade. Leave in fridge for three days, then serve with fresh bread and salad.

The Western Morning News Think Local campaign is sponsored by independent financial adviser Worldwide Financial Planning.

Grilled Herring

14-11-2009

Iain says: “The simplest – and some would say best – way to enjoy fresh herring.”

fresh whole herrings, descaled and gutted (see panel)

seasoned plain flour

olive oil

lemon

butter

Pre-heat the oven to 200C. Score each fish two or three times with a sharp knife across its fattest part to ensure even cooking. Lightly flour and season each herring. Place into an oiled pan.

Lightly oil each herring and place the pan under the grill until it starts to colour.

Put a small knob of butter on each fish and put the pan to finish in the oven for five minutes.

The Western Morning News Think Local campaign is sponsored by independent financial adviser Worldwide Financial Planning.

Herring with Oatmeal

14-11-2009

Iain says: “Oatmeal goes so well with oily fish and bacon adds to the overall flavour.”

8 herring fillets

200g oatmeal (finely ground oats)

8 rashers streaky bacon cut into1cm strips

lemon

olive oil

black pepper

Fry the bacon strips in a shallow pan with olive oil. Remove and set aside somewhere warm, leaving the oil in the pan.

Press herring fillets into oatmeal to coat them, then fry in the same oil for three minutes each side.

Season with black pepper and lemon juice and serve with the bacon strips on top.

The Western Morning News Think Local campaign is sponsored by independent financial adviser Worldwide Financial Planning.

Stuffed Breast of Chicken

08-07-2009

A nice way to serve one of everyone’s favourites – chicken – using ingredients many people will have to hand.

Skin the chicken breast and cut in half so you have two large flat pieces. Put one piece of chicken in a food processor and mix with salt, pepper, half a clove of garlic and a pinch of tarragon. Once smooth, add your egg and splash of cream and start mixing.

Put the farce in the middle of the breast and roll up, sealing the chicken parcel in Parma ham.

Brown the chicken in a pan with baby onions and a few sprigs of thyme and then roast in a hot oven until the juices run clear.

Make the most of the delicious seasonal vegetables available now to serve with your chicken – try cabbage, gently sauted in a little bit of butter with salt and pepper, broad beans, sauted spring onions and carrots, cooked in chicken stock with a dot of butter.

For a sauce to accompany your chicken, reduce chicken stock with a sprig of rosemary and reduce, add a good glug of double cream and reduce until you reach the right consistency.

Per person

1 chicken breast

Parma ham

cream

1 egg

tarragon

garlic

baby onions

chicken stock

rosemary

Vanilla Pannacotta

125g sugar

1 pint double cream

¼ pint of milk

2 leaves of gelatine

2 vanilla pods

Soak the gelatine leaves in cold water. Mix the milk, cream, and sugar together, put in a pan and bring to a boil. Squeeze the gelatine out and add the cream and milk mix. Put in a metal bowl and in a bain marie with warm water and leave to semi-set.

Then, to ensure the vanilla pods don’t sink to the bottom, pour into moulds and leave in a cool place to set firm.

Marinaded Strawberries

½ cinnamon stick

1 star anise

125g caster sugar

25 ml water

3 lemon strips

4 black peppercorns

Make a sugar syrup by bringing the sugar and the water to the boil and stirring until the sugar has dissolved.

Add all the other ingredients and when the mixture is warm. Pour over a punnet of strawberries which have been halved and the stalks removed. Leave to marinade.

To serve: Turn out the pannacotta and arrange the marinated strawberries around the edge.

Beautiful, fresh flavours of strawberry and vanilla – I love this dessert!

And if you like strawberries, you might like to make a proper jelly with them...

Strawberry Jelly

1kg strawberries

1 lemon zest (stripped with peeler)

1 vanilla pod

200ml elderflower cordial

200g caster sugar

4 gelatine leaves (soaked)

Put all ingredients except the gelatine in a metal bowl and cling film. Put over a pan of warm water and leave until all the juices have been extracted.

Pass through a sieve and reduce in a pan over a low heat by a quarter. Once the mixture has warmed up, add the gelatine and pour into moulds or dishes.

Place in the refrigerator until set.

Jason Hornbuckle is the head chef at Lewtrenchard Manor.

Reservations: 01566 783222.

Lap up the great summer snacks

08-07-2009

I WAS still in a state of recovery after Andy Murray’s spectacular match on Monday night when I sat down to write this week’s column. In fact a couple of times during the nail-biting battle royal he had with the unpronounceable named Swiss gentleman I had to take myself into the garden to calm myself down – which I found strangely reminiscent of my husband’s behaviour when he watches a cricket match of any kind, but particularly if England and Australia are competing against each other!

The two sports of tennis and cricket do have rather a lot in common – whites are still the order of the day in both, and afternoon tea is also a tradition of both, although the quality of food at such sporting events may not be quite as fine as in Victorian times. However, with what one hopes will be one of the most exciting finals for decades, Wimbledon 2009 may be just the time to resurrect one of the now fast-fading traditions of Tennis Tea and invite some friends around to watch some great tennis and to indulge in the delicacies of a bygone era again. Mrs Beeton describes a Tennis Tea as informal and usually served out of doors – iced tea, coffee, claret cup etc. are served with sandwiches, pastries and cakes.

Cucumber Sandwiches

It is important to sweat the cucumber beforehand – if you don’t you will end up with soggy sandwiches!

cucumber

malt vinegar

salt

thinly sliced bread

softened butter

Peel and very thinly slice some cucumber, put the slices into a colander sitting in a deep dish. Sprinkle a little vinegar and some salt over the cucumber and leave to stand for 30-40 minutes. Shake the colander to remove any excess liquid and pat the cucumber slices with some kitchen paper.

Lightly butter the bread, arrange an overlapping layer of cucumber on top, cover with another slice of lightly buttered bread and press the two firmly together. Using a sharp knife cut off the crusts and cut the sandwich into three fingers. Pile neatly on to a plate and serve.

Egg and Cress Sandwiches

2 hard-boiled eggs

softened butter

2-3 tsp mayonnaise

salt and pepper

thinly sliced bread

cress

Shell the eggs and chop roughly into a food processor, add the mayonnaise a little at a time, together with some of the cress snipped off with scissors. Season with salt and pepper and process to mix, there should still be a good texture.

Spread the mixture on some lightly buttered bread, top with another slice, press lightly together, cut off the crusts and cut the sandwich into neat triangles.

Strawberry Tarts

Makes 6

350g shortcrust pastry

150g tub mascarpone cheese

2 tbsp icing sugar

4 tbsp double cream

1 tsp vanilla essence

2 tsp lemon juice

350g fresh strawberries

4 tbsp redcurrant jelly

2 tbsp cold water

Roll out the pastry on a lightly floured board and use to line six 9cm tartlet tins. Place a crumpled piece of greaseproof paper in each pastry, then cover with a layer of baking beans. Bake for 15 minutes in a preheated oven at 200C (gas mark 6), then remove the baking beans and paper and continue to bake for a further five minutes. Remove from the oven and leave to cool completely.

Beat the mascarpone with the icing sugar, double cream, vanilla essence and lemon juice and spoon this mixture into the pastry cases.

Hull and thickly slice the strawberries and arrange attractively on top of the cheese mixture.

Melt the redcurrant jelly in a saucepan with the cold water, then spoon over the tarts as a glaze, and leave in a cool place to set before serving.

Blackberry pasties

26-01-2009

For 6 medium pasties

500g ready-made (or homemade) puff pastry

2 Bramley apples (they go soft and fluffy when cooked) or use eating apples for a firmer shape

1 tbsp lemon juice

handful of blackberries

2 tbsp Demerara sugar

6 tsp Cornish clotted cream

beaten egg

Peel, core and chunk, slice or grate the apples. Toss them in lemon juice to stop them going brown and mix them with the blackberries.

Roll the pastry and cut six circles approximately 15cm in diameter. Leaving a 2.5cm border, pile the apple on one half of the circle. Top with the clotted cream and a sprinkling of sugar. Paint the border with a little water, fold over the other half, press lightly all over and crimp the edges. If liked, and it’s fiddly, attempt a pasty finish by turning the edge in small tucks to make the distinctive ridged finish. Paint with the egg and prick a few times with a fork.

Transfer to a baking sheet lined with baking parchment and bake in a hot oven at 200C (gas mark 6) for 20-30 minutes until the pastry is puffed and golden.

Venison Steaks with Juniper and Ginger Butter

26-01-2009

Pheasant Casserole

26-01-2009

NOW is a good time, before the game season ends on February 1, to think about indulging in some delicious, tasty and warming seasonal eating. I’m quite partial to game. It’s lean and flavoursome. My favourites are pheasant and venison. The appeal of venison to me lies in its taste and lack of fat – which with many meats means a loss of flavour, but not so in the case of venison. In today’s cholesterol-conscious consumers it is clearly way ahead of its competitors in the healthy eating stakes. If you’ve not had the courage to try it yet, do give it a go.

Serves 8

25g butter

1 tbsp olive oil

2 oven-ready pheasants

2 medium onions, thinly sliced

225g peeled chestnuts

3 tbsp wholemeal flour

450ml chicken stock

150ml robust red wine

salt and freshly ground black pepper

grated rind and juice of a small orange

1 tbsp redcurrant jelly

bouquet garni

fresh parsley, chopped

Cut the pheasants into joints – or ask your butcher to do it. Heat the butter and oil in a large frying pan and brown the pheasant joints for about five minutes, then remove from the pan and place in an ovenproof casserole dish. Add the onions and chestnuts and sauté until golden brown, transfer to the casserole dish. Stir the flour into the pan and cook, stirring for just a minute. Remove from the heat, gradually stir in the stock and wine then bring to the boil, stirring continuously until thick and smooth (whisk to get rid of any lumps). Remove from the heat and stir in the orange rind and juice, redcurrant jelly and bouquet garni and pour over the pheasant.

Cover and bake in a preheated oven at 180C (350F, gas mark 4) for an hour and a quarter, or until the pheasant is tender. Remove the bouquet garni, and serve with a sprinkling of roughly chopped fresh parsley.

Brussels Sprouts and Chestnut Soup

05-01-2009

THIS seasonal recipe from Deborah Smallbone at the Grove Inn at King’s Nympton should provide an affordable, warming and tasty post-Christmas soup. “Our soups are very popular at this time of the year, but we also do chilled ones in the summer,” Deborah explains.

She and her husband Robert have been at the pub for six years, and have recently won Taste of the West’s 2008 Regional Dining Pub of the Year award. In 2005-06 and the following year the Grove was voted best pub in North Devon.

It goes without saying that apart from the quality of the food, the couple’s commitment to supporting local businesses was also a winning factor. “We’ve always believed in that,” Deborah says. “For example the sprouts come from a farm that’s only a couple of miles away, and all the beef we use is from a local farm.”

Serves 6

25g butter

1 medium onion, finely chopped

250g potatoes, peeled and chopped

1kg Brussels sprouts, quartered

900ml vegetable stock (preferably homemade)

100g fresh chestnuts, skinned and crumbled or 100g vacuum-packed or tinned chestnuts, crumbled

freshly grated nutmeg

150ml milk

75ml single cream

salt and freshly ground black pepper

If using fresh chestnuts they’ll need roasting, so make a slit in the skins, place on a baking tray and roast at 200C (400F, Gas Mark 6) for 20 minutes.

Allow to cool off a little, then peel. If using vacuum-packed or tinned chestnuts they will already be roasted and peeled.

Melt the butter and cook the onion gently for five minutes in a covered saucepan, without adding any colour to the onions.

Add the potatoes, 700g of the Brussels sprouts and then the stock. Cover, bring to the boil and simmer gently for about 10 minutes until the vegetables are tender. Set aside to cool a little and then puree in a blender.

Return to a clean saucepan and stir in the remaining Brussels sprouts, the chestnuts and grated nutmeg to taste. Cover, bring to the boil and simmer gently for about 5-10 minutes until the sprouts and chestnuts are tender.

Stir in the milk and the cream and add more water if necessary to achieve the desired consistency. Taste for seasoning, reheat and serve.

The soup can be blended again at the end if you like it smoother but I prefer a few chunks.

We serve ours with crusty bread from our local bakery in Chulmleigh.

Braised Beef Short Ribs with Pickled Walnut Relish

05-01-2009

LOCAL, seasonal food has been the philosophy at the Dartmoor Inn at Lydford for many years before “buying local” became any good foodie’s watchword. As soon as they arrived 10 years ago Philip and Karen Burgess made sure the menu clearly listed local suppliers. A blackboard in the bar names the farm supplying beef and sometimes even the breed of cattle.

Philip insists on only cooking meat from native beef breeds such as Aberdeen Angus and South Devons, and he chose this seasonal recipe for December because it is “hearty, warming, flavoursome and full of seasonal goodness”. He recommends serving it with simple root vegetables or roasted squash, such as Crown Prince.

Philip explains that the short rib cut comes from the very tip of the rib of beef that would usually be roasted. Ask your butcher who should be able to supply this particular cut. “In appearance it is a chunky piece of beef surrounding a flat bone,” he says. “They always say 'the closer to the bone, the sweeter the meat' and it is certainly true in this case!”

Serves 4

1.8kg beef short ribs, cut 2 inches thick

salt and pepper

4 large shallots, roughly chopped

olive oil

1 leek, white and pale green parts only, washed and roughly chopped

1 carrot, peeled and roughly chopped

2 tomatoes, roughly chopped

4 cloves garlic, smashed

6 sprigs thyme

3 bay leaves

150ml red wine

3 to 5 cups hot basic beef stock

50g plain flour

1 jar pickled walnuts

WALNUT RELISH

¼ cup chopped parsley

zest of ½ lemon, finely chopped

1 large clove garlic, finely chopped

110g pickled walnuts, finely chopped

1 tbsp olive oil

Cut the short ribs into two-inch pieces, roughly square, so that each piece includes a bone. Trim excess fat if necessary. Season generously with salt and pepper and dust lightly with flour. Preheat a large, heavy-bottomed pan and sear the short ribs until lightly browned.

Meanwhile, sauté the onions in a little olive oil in a large, heavy-bottomed pan until lightly coloured. Add the leeks and carrot and cook until slightly softened. Add the tomatoes, garlic, thyme and bay and sauté a few minutes more.

Spread the vegetables in a large baking dish large enough to hold the short ribs. Arrange the ribs on top of the vegetables. Pour in the wine and add enough hot stock to barely cover the ribs. Cover the dish tightly with foil and place in a hot oven, about 230C (450F, Gas Mark 8). After 15 minutes reduce the heat and cook slowly for about one and a half hours.

When the meat is cooked, it should nearly fall off the bone. When cooked, pour off the cooking juices and turn the ribs over so that the bone is side down.

Increase the oven temperature to 230C (450F, Gas Mark 8) and cook for 10 minutes. Strain the cooking juices into a bowl, then remove any grease from the top. Reduce liquid by half its volume to intensify flavour and thicken. Check seasoning and return sauce to short ribs and serve.

To make the walnut relish, mix all the ingredients together and spread over the beef just before serving.

Serve with mashed potatoes or buttered noodles and root vegetables.

Roasted Loin and Slow Cooked Belly of Pork

05-01-2009

BRETT Sutton is head chef at the Eastbury Hotel in Sherborne. He is passionate about local and seasonal foods, using local butchers such as Parsons Butchers in Sherborne who source from local farms.

Already, 85 per cent of his produce comes from Dorset, Somerset and a handful of producers outside these counties though still in the Westcountry – but he aims to make the figure higher.

Brett is also a keen forager, and uses the produce, such as apples, squash and herbs grown in the hotel’s grounds, as and when it is available.

“Living in Sherborne means that I have access to a fabulous larder – basically the whole of the South West produces amazing flavours and superb quality,” he says.

“In Dorset alone I can source cheeses, meat, fish, vegetables, locally grown rapeseed oil, locally grown and milled flour. There really is no reason to look elsewhere when the very best is on my doorstep.”

Serves 4

750g piece of well-scored loin of pork, boned and rolled

500g piece of belly pork de-boned – ask your butcher, he will happily do this for you

1 onion

1 large carrot

1 leek

2 cloves of garlic

½ bunch sage

150g butter

1 spaghetti squash - if you can’t get this, use butternut or a small pumpkin

12 small carrots with green tops on

4 large potatoes

200ml double cream

100g Westcombe Cheddar, grated – once again if you can’t get hold of this replace it with your favourite local Cheddar

500g curly kale

salt and pepper

sunflower oil

100ml Dorset honey

The belly of pork

We use locally bred pork. Simply place in a baking tray, drizzle with sunflower oil, season well and cover with foil, cook very slowly at 170C (325F, gas mark 3) for 4-5 hours. It’s worth the wait. When cooked, cool and leave to set overnight.

The next day trim and cut into four pieces. When you need it for your dish, cook skin side down, you will not need any oil, as the fat from the pork will crisp it up.

The loin of pork

Set the oven to 220C, (425F, gas mark 7).

Take the large carrot, leek, onion and garlic cloves and chop up roughly. These will be the base on which you will cook your loin of pork.

Sauté the vegetables in a little oil and 50g of butter, transfer to a medium-sized oven tray. Place your loin of pork on the top, season with salt fairly well – this will help the pork crisp up.

Place the loin in the oven and cook for 20 minutes then turn the heat down to 200C (400F, gas mark 6) and cook for a further 35 minutes. Once cooked remove it from the oven and, importantly, allow to rest.

Drain the juices into a new saucepan, discard the vegetables from underneath, they have done their job (we eat them while cooking the dish as our treat!) and place the pan on heat.

Add 100ml of double cream and reduce by half – the sauce will naturally thicken. Cut the sage leaves thinly and add at the last second, then re-season.

The mash

Peel and then cut your potatoes into inch cubes, place into seasoned water and cook as you would for normal mash. Once cooked, drain well, beat in 50g of butter and 50ml of warm double cream, then finally add the grated Westcombe Cheddar, re-season to taste, keep warm to one side.

Curly kale

Plunge into a pan of boiling, salted water and cook for 6 minutes, drain well, and toss in 50g of butter.

Spaghetti squash and carrots

We use baby carrots with the stalks – you can now pick them up at most good greengrocers. Trim the tops to leave about half an inch of green on top, place in a thick-bottomed pan. Peel squash and cut into inch square pieces, place in with carrots. Add 100ml of water and cook on the stove until the water boils away, then drizzle on the honey, season well, and place in oven for 20 minutes on 200C (400F, gas mark 6) to roast and let the honey caramelise. Remove from the oven when cooked.

To serve

Take four warm plates, spoon the Westcombe Cheddar mash to one side. On top of this place the belly of pork, to the left of this spoon on the curly kale, then carve the loin of pork into four, placing a piece on each plate on the kale. Scatter the roasted squash and carrots between the plates fairly rustically; finally spoon on the sage cream sauce.

Pigeon Risotto, Black Trumpet Mushroom and Cob Nuts

05-01-2009

Starter for two

2 breasts of locally-shot pigeon

12 blanched cob nuts

300g Arborio rice

1 shallot, peeled and finely chopped

500ml pigeon stock, made from the bones, browned in the oven

50g unsalted butter

50g trumpet mushrooms, cleaned

100g Keen’s Cheddar

5ml truffle oil

olive oil

seasoning to taste

Sweat the shallots in a drop of olive oil in a heavy-bottomed pan. When lightly coloured, add the Arborio rice and stir briefly. Add 500ml of pigeon stock to the rice, stirring all the time.

You can tell when the risotto is cooked as most of the stock will have evaporated.

In a shallow frying pan fry the pigeon in a little oil to colour. This should take two to three minutes each side. Put to one side and rest.

Add the cob nuts, cheddar and mushrooms to the rice and season to taste.

The rice should be “al dente” (firm to the bite). Stir in the butter to finish and serve in warm bowls with the pigeon breast carved on top. Drizzle with truffle oil.

Chef’s note: Keen’s Cheddar has been made in Wincanton, Somerset, since 1899.

Recipe by Keith Brooksbank, head chef at Alverton Manor, Truro

Indian Summer Pudding

05-01-2009

ED CHESTER, head chef at Otterton Mill, chose this new take on a summer pudding after listening to the news and hearing predictions of an Indian summer. He thought the pudding would be “a perfect match of the traditional and contemporary and something which would be easily achievable by everyone”.

It’s already a firm favourite on the menu at Otterton Mill, and is best made at least the day before you want to serve it.

The mill’s restaurant, overseen by Ed, has gained a good reputation for the thoroughness of its approach to serving fresh, seasonal food, most of it sourced locally. Bread comes from the mill’s bakery, baked with flour ground at the mill; lamb is raised only a few miles away while oysters come from the River Exe and fresh fish from Exmouth, Beer and Sidmouth.

100g butter

750g plums

8 English eating apples

6 pears

1 lemon (juiced)

1 loaf – day old finest white bread (ideally Otterton Mill’s) in ¾in slices

2 whole red chillies

2 tbsp crushed cardamon pods

12 peppercorns

4 cinnamon sticks

8 cloves

4 star anise

2in fresh root ginger (thinly sliced)

peel of 2 oranges

250ml medium dry cider

250g soft brown sugar

Cardamon Custard

300ml semi-skimmed milk

200ml single cream

10 crushed cardamon pods

6 egg yolks

110g caster sugar

Put plums in roasting tray together with all the spices, chillies, ginger and cider. Cover with foil and roast at 220C (gas mark 7) for 20 minutes. Remove from oven and set aside to cool.

Peel, core and chunk chop apples and pears, rolling in lemon juice to stop browning.

Heat a large pan until very hot. Add butter and, when melted, drop in the apple and pear mix. Toss in the foaming butter for 2 minutes. Stir through the sugar and cook for a further 4 minutes. Cool.

Skin and stone the plums, then fold through the apples and pears. In a small pan, bring the spiced cider to the boil and reduce by one third. Strain and set liqueur aside.

Line a 1.2-litre pudding bowl with bread dipped in the spiced liqueur. Spoon the fruit mix into this bread bowl and top with a lid of dipped bread. Cover with clingfilm and refrigerate overnight with a plate and a 1kg weight on top.

To serve, remove clingfilm and carefully up-end on to a serving plate.

Cardamon Custard

Combine the milk, cream and cardamon and let it infuse for 30 minutes in a pan. Bring the milk mix to scald point, whisking vigorously to disperse the pods. Take off the heat and leave for another 30 minutes.

Whisk yolks and sugar until thick and pale, then strain the milk mix on to the egg mixture and whisk thoroughly.

Put into a saucepan over a low heat and stir gently but constantly until the custard has noticeably thickened. Remove from the heat, whisk hard briefly, then strain into a cold bowl.

Tuna Nicoise

05-01-2009

CHARLES Inkin, owner of the Gurnard’s Head at Zennor, chose this month’s seasonal recipe for several reasons. “It’s perfect for lazy summer days,” he says. “It makes the best of simple, locally grown ingredients and it features Cornish tuna.”

The Cornish Tuna project was dreamt up by fisherman Quentin Knights, a regular customer at the pub; his passion for reviving an old Cornish fishing tradition was enough to inspire Charles to put this fish on the menu.

Robert Wright, head chef at this popular and chilled-out restaurant and pub, uses as many ingredients as he can source within the county, and is happy to work with small growers, market gardeners and allotment holders, taking their produce whenever it is available. So a local lady in Zennor produces “fabulous eggs, really good eggs matter in a dish like this”; the cherry tomatoes come just a few miles along the coast road from Kelynack; the lettuce is grown on an allotment by a man who works as a salesman by day, and the beans are produced nearby by one of his chefs.

The tuna, when it arrives, looks like a mini torpedo. “It is so streamlined,” Robert comments as he deftly fillets the rich, meaty fish, which has very little wastage. Although a very meaty fish, tuna can be quite dry, so only needs very brief cooking, he adds.

The advantage of this dish is that most of it can be prepared ahead, then finished at the last minute. Robert’s personal twist on this popular classic is to add golden marjoram to the dressing. Although many versions of this recipe use tinned tuna, fresh tuna transforms it into something quite special, a combination of fresh, easy-to-prepare and simple ingredients, tasting fresh, not too fishy, and with a changing palate of textures – soft, crunchy and meaty.

“What I am trying to achieve here is simple food, letting the individual flavours speak for themselves,” he says.

Serves 3-4 as a starter

These quantities are approximate and flexible, they can be adjusted according to what is available

8 cherry tomatoes halved

2 Little gem lettuce washed

8 Cornish new potatoes

100g fine or French beans

handful of black olives pitted

2 free range eggs

200g Cornish tuna loin cut into pieces no more than 2cm thick

1 small tin of anchovies, drained of oil

4 tbsp fresh golden marjoram leaves

1 tsp coarse sea salt

juice of 1 lemon

50ml virgin olive oil

freshly ground black pepper

Scrub the potatoes, cook, drain and leave to cool.

Briefly cook the beans, for no more than two minutes or until they change from a raw green to a slighter darker colour. Drain and refresh in cold water.

Put the eggs in a pan of boiling water and boil for about 8 minutes; this should give hard-boiled eggs with a slightly soft centre.

To make the dressing, pound the fresh marjoram leaves with the salt using a pestle and mortar, until you have a grainy paste. The ingredients must be dry, with no liquid at this stage. Next add the lemon juice, mix well and then gradually mix in the oil.

Make the salad by putting the lettuce, tomatoes, potatoes, beans, olives and anchovies in a bowl. Mix together and add some of the dressing.

Briefly cook the tuna for between one and two minutes on each side, depending on the thickness. Grill it under a hot grill, pan fry or barbecue it; the fish should be cooked on the outside and pink in the middle.

Add the shelled and halved eggs to the salad and the tuna, pour over a little more dressing and season with freshly ground black pepper. The salt in the dressing and from the anchovies should be enough.

Serve with crusty bread – we bake our own soda bread – and a glass of chilled Cornish white wine or Cornish cider.

Summer salad

05-01-2009

THIS is Jane Osborne’s recipe for a garden salad, perfect for hot days and warm evenings, endlessly flexible according to what is available. Jane runs Food Dreckly, an award-winning café in Tavistock where the menu reflects the seasons and the local produce that she can find. She is passionate about local food.

“Our part of the South West produces some of the finest ingredients and our aim is simply to do them justice,” she says. Using traditional and innovative recipes and sourcing as much as she can from local producers, the café and her outside catering business offer a range of distinctive menu choices – everything from a quick coffee with some irresistible home-made cake to a wholesome meal or event catering.

“The salad vegetables can be varied to suit the season or your particular garden glut. I love making this sort of salad as it can use whatever is easy to find in the garden with a lovely colourful result,” explains Jane. “Fine beans would be good or sugar snap peas – anything really that is freshly picked, young and green.

“The quantities can be varied to suit your needs, appetite and the number you are feeding. The dressing is a thick, gutsy dressing and is a great source of vitamins.”

She adds that the choice of herbs will alter the flavour of the dressing considerably “so don’t overdo the stronger herbs, such as rosemary or thyme; I like to include some mint in the mix which is good with the potato, and fennel which teams well with the beans. When it comes to the herbs, see what you have in the garden, or easily available, and try to achieve a balance of flavours. Following our principle of sourcing almost everything locally, I use Hogs Bottom wholegrain mustard and Tamar Valley honey.” The toppings can also vary – you can use as many as you like, or none at all.

Serves 6

You will need approximately 1.5kg of fresh seasonal vegetables. Varieties and quantities can vary according to what is available and what you fancy, but here are some suggestions:

500g shelled broad beans

750g new potatoes

100g shelled peas

150g asparagus (when available)

large handful rocket

a mixture of different lettuce leaves, enough for 6 people

edible flowers – such as flowering herbs, nasturtiums, roses, day lilies or similar

Dressing

To make enough for 6 people.

A large handful of fresh herbs

half a cup of olive oil

juice of a fresh organic lemon

1 tsp wholegrain mustard

1 dsp of honey

freshly ground black pepper

Cornish sea salt

small carton of double cream

Broad beans are best picked young, when they will require only a few moments in boiling water before being cooled under running water. If the beans are older, you will need to cook them and then pop off the tough outer skin.

Cook the new potatoes, drain but leave warm.

Break off the tough end of the asparagus and lightly cook in boiling water or steam.

Wash or pick over the remaining produce.

Dressing

Make the dressing with a hand blender or food processor. Place everything except the cream in the mixer bowl and whizz to a puree. Taste and adjust as you like; the mixture will taste different each time so be guided by your own taste buds.

Toppings, use as many, few or none of the following:

Cheese croutons – roughly cube 2 slices of day-old bread, lightly toss in olive oil (with or without a little garlic) and grill until crisp. Grate over some strong local cheese and re-grill until melted.

2 or 3 thin strips of good-quality bacon – fried until very crisp

50g cashew nuts – roast the nuts in a pan with a very little oil, until touches of reddish brown appear, then toss in sea salt and black pepper. Pumpkin seeds are a good alternative

Toss the lettuce and rocket in a little of the dressing to lightly coat the leaves then arrange on a platter and sprinkle over the edible flowers.

Place the beans, asparagus, potatoes and peas in the centre.

Stir the double cream into the remaining dressing and pour it over the cooked vegetables. Sprinkle with the toppings of your choice and a few chopped herbs.

Serve with a glass of locally brewed beer.

Sole

05-01-2009

THIS recipe comes from Nik Tinney, chef-proprietor of Saffron in Truro. For the last nine years he has been passionate about working with local suppliers – his menu is the most transparent I have ever seen, happy to tell you exactly who supplies what and where from. He works hard with local growers to source as many different vegetables, salads and herbs as possible, and is on a constant mission to find new suppliers with different products. He is also a true follower of the seasons, so from April to mid June there is a special asparagus menu featuring Cornish asparagus; strawberries and soft fruit star in the summer months, and then apples and other English top fruit feature in the autumn.

“This dish only takes 10 to 15 minutes to put together, you can make most of it up to 24 hours beforehand,” he explains. “It is easy to finish for a lunch or supper dish.”

It combines the traditional Cornish colours of black and gold, and Nik suggests serving this dish with some steamed spinach or seasonal greens, samphire or asparagus when in season, or some light summery vegetables. He recommends asking the fishmonger to fillet and skin the fish, and for the bones for making the fish stock.

Serves 4

6 sole fillets, approx 100g each, skinned and cut lengthways down the natural seam

Fish stock

Bones from sole fillets

1 leek roughly chopped

1 onion roughly chopped

2 sticks of celery roughly chopped

½ fennel bulb roughly sliced

½ lemon

1tbsp olive oil

1 litre water

1 sprig of fresh thyme

3 bay leaves

1 star anise, cracked

Saffron Potatoes

5 potatoes, peeled and cut into four lengthways

500ml fish stock or water, infused with a generous pinch of saffron

Salt

Cayenne pepper

Black olive sauce

100g black olives – see chef’s note

2 cloves garlic

20g anchovies

2 sachets squid ink, available from good fishmongers

1 tbsp capers

50-100ml fish stock

1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

50g unsalted butter, cubed

The stock, sauce and potatoes can all be prepared up to 24 hours ahead and kept in the fridge.

To make the fish stock, sweat the vegetables, lemon, herbs and spices in the olive oil. Add the bones and cover with water. Bring to the boil and simmer for five minutes. Skim off any scum, turn off the heat and leave to settle for 30 minutes. Pass through a fine sieve.

If you fancy a challenge, shape the potatoes into a long olive shape by running a paring knife from top to bottom. Otherwise leave them as they are. Soak in the saffron water for at least half an hour, or overnight.

To make the olive sauce place all the ingredients, except the butter, in a blender and process until smooth. For a coarser sauce pulse the ingredients in a food mixer until you have the desired texture.

To cook the dish heat the oven to 200C (gas mark 6).

Place the potatoes and saffron water in a saucepan, season with salt and cayenne pepper and bring to the boil. Simmer for 5-10 minutes, depending on their size, until they are just soft.

To cook the fish, wrap the fillet gently round your finger and tuck the end underneath into a turban shape. Do this with all 12 fillets and lay them evenly in a shallow pan with a lid. Pour in enough fish stock until it is half-way up the fish. Season and cover with the lid, put in the oven and cook for 7 minutes, until the fish is firm and white.

Take the fish out of the pan and keep warm. Add the black olive sauce to the remaining stock in the pan, bring to the boil and whisk in the unsalted butter.

Arrange three fillets of sole and five potatoes on each plate, and pour round the sauce.

Chicken orvieto

05-01-2009

THIS is Andy and Rowena Whiteman’s take on a traditional Italian recipe, which they first came across on a cookery course with Alastair Little in Italy. This is a typical example of the style of food you can find at the Harris Arms at Portgate, which the couple have run for four years and where Danny Cornwell is in charge in the kitchens, turning out what his bosses describe as “great food with a Mediterranean influence”.

“Our approach is to use good ingredients, cooked simply with powerful flavours,” explains Rowena. “It’s a good spring dish and a good example of what we do here.”

The Whitemans have been cooking this recipe for more than ten years and recommend using the best chicken available; they use Creedy Carver’s traditional, free range birds.

“This is the way we like to do food, because by using a whole chicken the dish has a definite flavour,” she continues.

Andy adds that the ingredients combine to make a light, satisfying dish: “You’ve got olives, garlic, rosemary, potato, fennel and onion. It’s fabulous to eat sitting in the sunshine with some Orvieto wine.”

1 free-range chicken approx weight 1.8kg

450g potatoes

1 onion

30 large garlic cloves

1 fennel bulb

225g good black, pitted olives

sprig of rosemary

1 lemon

1 glass dry white wine

6 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

Peel and parboil the potatoes and, when cool, dice them into cubes of about 1cm.

Peel and dice the onion.

Pull apart the garlic heads until you have about 30 cloves. Peel two of them and smash them with the flat of a knife blade and chop finely. Blanch the remaining cloves in salted boiling water for four minutes, refresh in cold water and dry.

Dice the fennel.

Pull the leaves of rosemary from the twig.

Juice the lemon.

Turn the oven to its highest setting, around 230C (gas mark 8).

Put two tablespoons of olive oil in a sauté pan and sauté the onion for five minutes or so at a lowish heat until the onion is translucent – do not allow it to brown.

Add the chopped garlic, potatoes, finely chopped rosemary and fennel and sauté for 10 minutes until the vegetables are cooked. Season with salt and pepper to taste, mix in the lemon juice (don’t add too much, otherwise it overpowers the dish) and allow it all to cool.

When cool enough to handle, stuff the chicken with the mixture and close with a thin wooden skewer, pushing through the legs and skin around the cavity opening.

Season the outside of the chicken according to taste (sea salt helps to crisp the skin). Arrange the chicken resting on one side in a roasting pan and put it in the oven. After 20 minutes turn it the other side up. After 40 minutes remove it from the oven and position it breast up.

Strew the garlic cloves, olives and rosemary evenly around the chicken and drizzle with a little olive oil. Add one tablespoon of water to the dish and return to the oven for 20 minutes.

When done, rest the chicken in a warm place for 15 minutes on a hot serving dish with the garlic and olives scattered round. Leaving the dish to stand is vital since this completes the cooking process while all the juices go back into the flesh.

Degrease the roasting pan by spooning off the fat and trying to leave any juices behind. Over a high heat, tip in the wine with an equal amount of water. Deglaze the pan, boiling and scraping. This will make a nice, simple gravy, suitable for virtually all roast chicken recipes.

To serve: Pile the stuffing in the centre of a large warmed serving plate, carve the chicken into eight pieces and place neatly, skin upwards around the stuffing and serve with seasonal vegetables, the gravy and a nice bottle of Italian wine.

Red mullet

05-01-2009

TIM Bouget of Ode in Shaldon is passionate about what he sources and its local provenance. As the winner of Taste of the West’s South West Restaurant of the Year he is committed to using as much local or organic produce wherever possible. Here he offers a light fish salad recipe, perfect for spring.

“Red mullet is an elegant fish with rich flavours,” he says. “Young leaves and shoots are fresh and crisp, and pairing these ingredients provides contrasting textures and tastes. Staying local with core ingredients and going global with technique and subtle aromas, you can create a colourful and satisfying dish.”

He believes the mixture of bean sprouts, mung beans, lentils and adzuki beans, which you can buy from health food stores or farmers’ markets, gives the dish “great texture with a nutty crunch accompanied with hints of sweet, sour and mild spicy flavour”.

And he says that although the list of ingredients looks long, most of them will already be in your store cupboard.

Serves 4

Salad of Bean Sprouts

100g mixed bean sprouts

1 clove garlic

1 red chilli

1 shallot sliced

1 small bunch coriander

1 small bunch mint

2 limes, juiced

1 tsp fish sauce

1 tbsp honey

Young Leaves with Ginger Miso Dressing

handful baby spinach leaves

1 punnet pea shoots

1 punnet baby red chard

1 thumb of ginger

1 clove garlic

2 tsp sweet white miso paste

1 tbsp tahina paste

100ml cider vinegar

100ml rapeseed oil

Broth for steaming

250ml water or fish stock

ginger trimmings

1 shallot, chopped

1 tsp pink peppercorns

1 clove garlic, crushed

2 whole red mullet, no less than 22cm

5g Cornish sea salt

To make the sprout salad, use a pestle and mortar to crush the garlic, chilli, shallot, coriander, and mint together. Add the lime juice, fish sauce and honey and mix well. Transfer to a clean bowl, add the bean sprouts and mix well. Leave until ready to serve.

Gently wash and dry the baby spinach, cut the pea shoots and baby red chard from the punnets and mix together by hand.

Make the dressing by peeling and grating the ginger, keeping the trimmings for the broth. Place ginger in a blender, add the miso, tahina and garlic and blend to a paste. Gradually add the cider vinegar until smooth and then gently pour in the rapeseed oil, using a slow speed, to emulsify the dressing.

Scale, fillet and remove all the bones from the mullet with fish tweezers; alternatively, ask the fishmonger to prepare the fish for you. Season the fillets lightly with the Cornish sea salt and cut each fillet diagonally in half. Lightly oil a bamboo steamer basket or stainless steel perforated steamer with rapeseed oil. Place the fillets skin side up into the basket, leaving 1cm space between the fillets to allow for cooking.

Bring the water to the boil in a saucepan and add the fragrant broth ingredients; simmer for five minutes. Place the bamboo or stainless steel steamer with the fish in over the simmering broth. Cover and steam for 2-3 minutes until the fillets are slightly firm to touch. Do not overcook the fillets. Remove from the heat and, gently using a flexible pallet knife, take out the fillets, taking care not to damage the skin.

Prepare a bed with the salad of bean sprouts to one side of the plate and place the steamed fish fillets gently on top. Place the young leaves and shoots on the other side, and drizzle with the dressing.

Serve with a glass of Pebblebed rosé from Topsham – its refreshing and sophisticated taste will complete the occasion.

venison

05-01-2009

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Serves 4

1 venison loin (about 800g)

1 large celeriac

500g washed baby spinach leaves

1 bunch of parsley, chopped

1 punnet redcurrants

330ml double cream

1tbsp wholegrain mustard

1pt boiling water

175ml of Port or red wine

200ml meat stock

2 tbsp vegetable oil

50g butter

salt and pepper

Pre-heat oven to 220C, gas mark 6. Peel and chop the celeriac into 1cm thick, 7.5cm long pieces and put into a pan of boiling, salted water until just soft (about five minutes). Then drain, run under cold water until cool and drain off.

Roll the venison in vegetable oil and season to taste.

Put an oven-proof frying pan on a medium heat until hot. Put in the venison and seal and colour on all sides. Add the butter to the pan and baste the venison. Place in the oven for eight minutes.

Remove the venison from the oven and rest in a warm place for ten minutes.

Place a saucepan on a medium heat, add the wine or Port and reduce by two-thirds. Add the stock and reduce by two-thirds. Add the redcurrants and take off the heat.

In another pan add the cream, season with salt and pepper and reduce by half over a medium heat. Add the mustard and drained celeriac and stir until warm. Add the baby spinach and a tablespoon of the chopped parsley just before you serve.

To serve: Put the celeriac in the middle of the plate. Slice the venison into 0.5cm-thick slices and put over the celeriac. Spoon a little of the sauce over the venison and around the plate.

CHEF’S TIPS:

Simeon Baber prefers to use vegetable oil rather than olive oil so that the flavour does not overpower the other flavours in the dish.

When rolling the venison in the oil he suggests you could add vanilla essence to the oil or some crushed juniper berries, or use vanilla salt.

He sometimes adds a squeeze of lemon juice to the finished sauce to balance the flavours.

He recommends cooking the venison no more than to medium, as the meat will continue cooking after it is taken out of the oven.

Broccoli With Pasta And Tuna

05-01-2009

Broccoli really is a superfood, containing twice as much protein as steak. It has also been proved effective against cancer, heart disease and many more other serious health conditions.

Serves 4

450g broccoli

200g tin of tuna chunks in brine

375g fresh pasta shapes, shells, bows etc

salt and black pepper

45ml olive oil

400g tin chopped tomatoes

1 tsp dried basil

1 tsp dried thyme

2 cloves garlic

grated Parmesan cheese

Drain the tuna and flake the flesh. Peel and crush the garlic. Heat the oil in a saucepan and add the chopped tomatoes, crushed garlic and herbs and a good seasoning of black pepper. Cook over a low heat for about 10 minutes before mixing in the tuna.

Meanwhile break the broccoli into florets and cook in a little boiling, salted water until tender. Drain well.

Put the tomato and tuna sauce on to a low heat, warming gently.

Heat a large pan of water and once boiling, add the fresh pasta and cook for 3-5 minutes then drain well. Using the same saucepan, melt the butter and return the pasta to the pan, together with the broccoli florets. Gently heat through, tossing the pan from time to time and turn out on to a warm serving dish. Spoon the tomato sauce over the top and add a light sprinkling of grated Parmesan cheese.

Parsnip Cakes

05-01-2009

Parsnips could be called a beauty enhancer, as nutritionally they help strengthen hair and nails and also can improve skin quality because of their unique balance of potassium, phosphorus and vitamin C.

Serves 4

700g parsnips

juice of a small lemon

salt and black pepper

wholemeal breadcrumbs

olive oil for frying

Top, tail and peel the parsnips and cut into even sized chunks. Place in a pan of cold water with lemon juice and bring to the boil, then lower the heat and continue to cook until the parsnips are tender. Drain well and turn into a mixing bowl, season well with sea salt and black pepper and mash until smooth. Leave to cool completely.

Spread the breadcrumbs out on a plate. Shape the mashed parsnip into small, flat cakes about 7cm in diameter and 1cm thick, then press the cakes into the breadcrumbs.

Heat a depth of 1cm of olive oil in a non-stick frying pan, until a haze starts to rise and cook the cakes until golden brown on each side. Delicious topped with a poached egg and some dry-fried or grilled crispy bacon.

Buttermilk Pancakes

05-01-2009

Buttermilk pancakes are very versatile and can be served with lots of fresh strawberries, raspberries, banana and whipped cream or crispy bacon and maple syrup

375g self raising flour

120g caster sugar

25g bicarbonate of soda

900ml buttermilk

3 eggs

2 zest of lemon

120g hot melted butter

Mix the dry ingredients together then make a well in the middle and whisk in the buttermilk.

Next whisk in the eggs and hot butter, then pass through a fine sieve and add the lemon zest.

Cook the pancakes in a lightly oiled non-stick frying pan.

Blueberry Muffins

05-01-2009

In New York I used to serve these in baskets with the bread for Sunday brunch and they would disappear immediately. During the summer season sweet locally grown blueberries will really make these muffins special; out of season frozen will work and make the mixture a really deep blue colour.

120g butter

230g caster sugar

20g clear honey

3 medium eggs, beaten

125g strong flour

125g plain flour

20g baking powder

275g frozen blueberries

150ml milk

Preheat the oven to 180C (350F, gas mark 4).

In a mixing machine cream the butter, sugar and honey together. Slowly add the eggs until the mix is smooth. Sieve both the flours and baking powder together then carefully fold into the mixture. Stir in the blueberries until the mix begins to turn a deep blue colour. Add the milk and mix well. Pipe or spoon the mixture into pre-greased muffin tins and bake for approximately 20 minutes.

Smoked Haddock Hash

05-01-2009

AFTER spending the past three years living in New York, certain local customs have rubbed off on me, and doing Sunday brunch is definitely one of my favourites, writes Elliot Ketley. The most important meal on a Sunday to most Americans, in particular New Yorkers, is brunch, usually consisting of eggs, pancakes, hash and muffins. This laid-back breakfast or early lunch is often served with pitchers of bloody Mary or buck’s fizz and lasts well into the afternoon and is a great way to catch up with friends and family.

Here in the UK brunch is also popular but has yet to reach Sunday roast status as the nation’s meal of choice. With this in mind I have introduced a menu that offers diners at the St Moritz a traditional roast, consisting of the best locally produced lamb, beef chicken or pork with all the trimmings alongside a selection of brunch favourites like eggs Benedict, buttermilk pancakes or corned beef hash.

People on both sides of the Atlantic enjoy a long lazy and indulgent meal on a Sunday and we aim to offer the best of both worlds here in Trebetherick.

While corned beef is the most commonly served hash, whenever I put this one made with smoked haddock on the menu it always goes down well. The dill gives a subtle aniseed flavour and served with a soft poached egg is delicious.

1 medium onion peeled and thinly sliced

vegetable oil for frying

2 medium baking potatoes

250g natural smoked haddock fillet

1 small bunch of dill

salt and pepper

milk

Bring the potatoes to the boil, simmer for two minutes, then remove from heat and allow to cool in the water. When the potatoes are cool peel and grate them and set aside in a bowl.

Meanwhile fry the onions in vegetable oil in a covered thick-bottomed pan until they are soft, stirring occasionally, then add to the grated potatoes.

Pick the dill leaves away from the thicker stalks, chop the dill and add to the mix, keeping the stalks.

Put the haddock fillet and dill stalks into a pan, cover with milk and water and gently poach the haddock until just cooked. Remove the fish from the poaching liquid and add to the potato mix.

Gently mix all the ingredients together and mould the mixture evenly into two flat cakes and fry them on both sides until they are golden. Serve with a poached or fried egg.

Lemon Turkey with Tarragon

05-01-2009

The combination of lemon and tarragon is a classic for poultry, and all you need to accompany this dish is either some fluffy boiled rice or pasta.

Serve 4

8-10 slices of turkey

25g butter

2 tbsp flour

300ml milk

1 heaped tbsp dried tarragon

1 tbsp lemon juice

salt and freshly ground black pepper

3-4 tbsp cream (or you can use natural yoghurt or crème fraiche)

Put the tarragon into a small dish, pour in the lemon juice and allow to stand for 15 minutes. Melt the butter in a non-stick saucepan and mix in the flour and cook for one minute, stirring. Gradually, using a balloon whisk, blend in the milk and allow coming to the boil, stirring all the time, adding the tarragon and lemon juice, and a good seasoning of salt and freshly ground black pepper. Remove from the heat and stir in the cream. Arrange the sliced turkey in a shallow ovenproof dish and pour over the sauce. Cover the dish with foil and cook in a preheated oven 200C (400F, Gas 6) for 15-20 minutes.