Warm Salad of New Potatoes , Asparagus , Smoked Mackerel , Wild Garlic and Egg Salad

Not only is it the new asparagus season  but the first new potatoes are appearing from Cornwall .  With thin papery skins , sweet and delicious they soak up dressing . This is a dish you will want to eat with a fork and but for the dressing dripping asparagus feel free to use your fingers.

Wild garlic leaves in the dressing impart a delicate seasonal flavour but you can use finely chopped garlic .

Smoked mackerel is so readily available  its lovely with fennel too or in a not quite nicoise salad once tomatoes come into season , I also like to make it into a pate great on toast or on a baked potato.

Warm Salad of New Potatoes , Asparagus , Smoked Mackerel , Wild Garlic and Egg Salad

Serves 2

200g of New Potatoes
100g of Asparagus
1 egg
3 fillets of smoked mackerel

Dressing
4 tbsp of olive oil
2 tbsp of white wine vinegar
Juice and zest of one lemon
1 tbsp of dijon mustard
Salt and Pepper
1 handful of wild garlic leaves

1. Whisk together all the dressing ingredient including the  wild garlic leaves
2. Boil the new potatoes until cooked and the eggs are hardboiled (3 minutes)
3. Steam the asparagus  over the potatoes for a few minutes
4. Once the potatoes are cooked ,slice  and mix the potatoes and the asparagus  dressing while still warm this will ensure they absorb the dressing and wilt the garlic leaves .
5. Mix in the asparagus place in a bowl and layer over the smoked mackerel and eggs.

Pasta with wild garlic , purple sprouting broccoli , chilli and anchovies

So foraging is not only trendy but is big business, The Guardian reports and you cannot turn the TV or open the newspaper without someone extolling the virtues of wild garlic or by their other name Ransoms. Wild Garlic has always been one of my favourite wild foods but moving
up to Derbyshire from the South West though I have lost all my old
foraging spots so it seems to have taken me way to long to find Wild
Garlic leaves this season which last from April til Early June .

 Finally I  found some good patches  growing on the grass verges around
Tissington easily recognisable by its broad leaves and there is no other way of saying it smell of garlic  

Once picked these peppery leaves will keep for a few days in the fridge or you can mixed the chopped leaves with butter which will keep in the freezer and stays a brilliant green perfect for fish or vegetables. You can simply sautee it the leaves and serve it as a side vegetable like spinach, added to soups they add a great garlic herb flavour , I have made a pesto before with walnuts and lemon

The dish above is great because it uses another one of my seasonal favourites purple sprouting brocolli which I have made before with an anchovy butter  . Ferous vegetables like broccoli and kale can carry a lot of strong flavours so this packed a punch with lemon chilli and anchovies the pungent  wild garlic was not lost. A speedy but flavoursome midweek dish also delicious cold.

Pasta with  wild garlic , purple sprouting broccoli ,  chilli and anchovies

200g of dried pasta
1 handful of fresh wild garlic leaves
2 handfuls of purple sprouting broccoli
2 tbsp anchovies roughly chopped
Juice and zest of half a lemon
1 tbsp of chilli flakes
2 tbsp of olive oil

1. Boil the pasta until al dente,
2. Meanwhile , mx together finely chopped garlic leaves , anchoives chilli flakes and oil
3. Steam the purple sprouting and while the pasta and brocolli are still warm mix over the garlic mix.
4. Serve in a large bowl

Click on the images below for previous posts.

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Charcoal Grilled Spiced Leg of Lamb

Yesterday was just about my ideal day , delcious breakfast, long walk full of the joys of spring; lambs skipping everywhere , meadows full of flowers ,picnic in the sunshine .

To finish off the perfect day it had to be a BBQ in the evening ( first of the year) .  I have been reading Claudia Roden Picnics and other outdoor feasts, I found it reduced to 2.50, published in the early 80s and  lacking the glossy pictures of modern tomes its packed with tonnes of delicious recipes from the Middle east to classic British Jellied meats its inspirational and already well thumbed.

Claudia describes grilling a butterflied leg of lamb with rosemary and garlic,  inspired I decided I would try moving beyond my safe zone of kebabs and fish , in part since  the BBQ often stays hot a long time and these foods cook very quickly making me feel a but wasteful.  I decided to got a  bit middle eastern using what has become one of my favourite flavours  Ras al hanout ( blend of roasted cardamom, cloves, cinnamon,parpika ,coriander, cumin, tumeric and rose petals ) .

I couldn’t believe how delicious this was , the lamb had stayed moist it stayed to moist but with that only a charcoal BBQ can give sweet crunchy  smokiness on the outside ( feeling mere twinge of guilt having watched zillions of lambs hop skip and jump there way around the Dales all day). Will be trying this again with some other marinades . Served with a salad made from chargrilled veges and cous cous

Its still a bit cold once the sun goes down so we were wearing hats ,
drinking warming red wine and a bit huddled round the BBQ but the food
tasted amazing so good I think I had thirds.

Charcoal Grilled Spiced Leg of Lamb

1. Rub 3 tbsp of  Ras al hanout spice and half a preserved lemon all over the leg of lamb with 2 tbsp of olive oil, leave for a few hours
2. Once the BBQ is ready to cook .
3. Grill the lamb for 5 minutes on each side close to the coals on each side to sear the meat
4. Moving the meat to the top tier of the BBQ cook for 25 minute on each side
5. Wrap the meat in foil and allow to rest for 20 minutes.
6. Slice thinly and serve with plenty of pitta bread , salad and hummus

Roasted Cauliflower & Cous Cous Salad

BBQ kebabs of cauliflower , pepper and aubergine brushed with a little chilli oil
Once grilled with cous cous , red peppers , olive oil , lemon juice fresh parsley

Some other lovely BBQ recipes

Asparagus with Smoked Bacon and Poached Eggs

For a seasonal blogger I probably should be excumunicated from the blogsphere for making a  Chinese style duck breast on  St Georges Day . Because as every British foodie will tell you the 23rd of April , St Georges Day is the traditional start of the British asparagus season . I adore asparagus &  clearly should have been enjoying some fat green stems .  My feeble excuse is a late arrival home

On St Georges Day  though I did make it to the market at lunchtime and the vegetables stall had plenty fo English asparagus barging the continental imports off the shelf. A further delay in eating the asparagus last night caused by  another late arrival home and a bottle of wine which made the prospect of boiling water a significant health and safety issue.

I have made asparagus roasted with parma ham before but British Asparagus definitely deserved some lovely smoked British Bacon grilled and served with a poached egg.

The lovely boyfreind really has the egg poaching nack down , using  to a drop of vinegar in the water and whisking the boiling water to a swirling whirlpool as you drop the egg in . The yolk oozes deliciously for dipping the spears in , perfectly complemented with sweet salty bacon. Simply delicious and counts as my five a day .

If you have managed to get hold of some Wild Garlic its delicious made into butter on asparagus

Chinese Five Spice Duck Breast

I don’t think I have ever used five spice before but it was a delicously rich and in depth. . Five spice is made from  “Chinese cinnamon” ,  cassia buds, powdered star anise and anise seed, ginger root, and ground cloves Will definitely be thinking of more ways to use this flavour  .

It resulted in an unctious sauce and for the first time pak choi tasted really lovely and had cooked to a silky texture.

Chinese Five Spice Duck Breast

2 duck breasts , look for free-range
1 tsp Chinese five-spice powder
1 tbsp Groundnut oil for frying
1 large bok choi , halved
2 tbsp soy sauce
100ml fresh chicken stock
2 tsp runny honey
1tsb of sesame

Adaptation of this recipe from BBC Good Food

1. Cut slashes through the skin and fat of each duck breast
2.  Rub the duck breasts with the five spice . Heat a little oil in a heavy frying pan and when it is really hot add the duck breasts skin-side down. Turn the heat down a little and fry for 8-10 minutes or until the skin is very crisp and brown and the fat has started to melt out from under the skin. Tip out any excess fat.
3. Turn the breasts over Cook for another 5 minutes or until the duck breasts feel firm to the touch but not too solid – you want them pink in the middle. Take the duck out and leave to rest for 5 minutes.
4. Meanwhile, add the bok choy to the pan with the spring onions and cook briefly. Add the rest of the ingredients and bubble together briefly.
5. Plate the duck, bok choy and spring onions and spoon the sauce over.

Rabbit and Wild Herb Pie

Slight delay in posting this from Easter weekend . We had bought these rabbits and few weeks ago in Nottingham and it was too tempting to cook rabbit for Easter so on Bank Holiday Monday I made a wild rabbit pie.

We had a lovely wander along the canal banks where amazingly chives have seeded themselves and wild hedge garlic is growing rapantly also picked some Wild Watercress for soup.  It seemed fitting to use wild herb with the rabbit since rabbit must be one of the most commonly eaten wild foods in the UK.

Rabbit and Wild Herb Pie

2 rabbits jointed
500ml of cider
1 tbsp of wholegrain mustard
1 medium onion
1 handful of Wild herbs (chives and wild garlic) finely chopped
200g of herbed shortcrust pastry ( recipe below)

1 egg beaten to glaze 

1. Simmer the rabbits in the cider with the onion , mustard , salt and pepper for an hour .
2. After leaving the rabbits overnight  reserve the cooking liquid & strip all the meat off.
3. To make the pie filling , simmer the cooking liquid until it has reduced in half mix the rabbit meat with wild herbs and mustard . Add a knob of butter and 2 tbsp of flour to thicken.
4. Cover  with chive shortcrust pastry recipe below and brush with an egg
5. Bake at 180degC for 35 minutes until brown and golden

Herbed Shortcrust Pastry

150g of plain flour
75g of butter
1 tbsp of chopped fresh herbs ( e.g chives,rosemary or tarragon)
50ml of cold water
Extra plain flour to roll out

1. Rub the butter into the flour
2. Add the chives
3. Add the water slowly to form a dough.

Wild Watercress Soup

Today went for a little walk along the canal watching the baby ducks play and two moorhens fight off a marauding coot . I wanted to get plenty of wild herbs for a rabbit pie fortunately I found plenty of hedge garlic and wild chives.

The recent rain spells meant I was also able pick plenty of wild watercress from the canal . It had grown a lot since my last visit  when I gathered a few bunches for salad

Watercress is just coming into season so there should be plenty in the shops now if   The proper name for watercress is Nasturtium officinale. Nasturtium is Latin for ‘nose twister’, a reference to the plant’s pungency.

This simple soup definitely gives you a bit but the short cooking should mean you get the full benefit of the vitamin C, calcium, iron and folic acid.

Wild Watercress Soup

4 handfuls of wild watecress
1 pint of water
1 medium potato peeled
1 medium onion chopped
1 clove of garlic
4 tbsp of low fat plain yogurt
Salt and Pepper

1. Bring the potatoes , onion and garlic to a gentle simmer
2. Cook until the potatoes are soft , add the watercress a cook for 5 minutes, cooking any longer would give  dingy colour soup.
3. Liquidise  &  then add the yogurt
4. Taste and season with salt and pepper

Lemon Poppy Seed Cake

About a month ago we went to The Longshaw Estate run by the National Trust.  It has as most National Trust sites do a tea shop. While these tea shops have expanded their ranges in the last few years into sandwiches , juices and salads.Traditionally what they always did was very good cakes served in hip-busting portions.

I was really looking forward to a cake at the end of a lovely long walk . So I could almost feel my bottom lip wobble as I  watched the last piece of lemon and poppy seed cake go to the person in front of me.  Never a person to let go of things I have been thinking about lemon poppy seed cake ever since , it just took me a while to find poppy seeds.

I went through a couple of recipes and ended up putting this together from a few around . I was a bit worried as it seemed a very wet mix but it produced a moist sticky topped cake with the bite of the poppy seeds.

Lemon and Poppy Seed Cake 

Makes 9 large squares

250g butter
250g caster sugar
1 tsp vanilla essence
1 lemon – zest and juice
4 large eggs
5tbsp poppy seeds
150ml milk
250g self-raising flour

1. Soak the poppy seeds in the milk for at least 1 hour.
2. Heat the oven to 150degC.
3. Line a 25cm square baking tin with greaseproof paper.
4. Cream together the butter, sugar , vanilla essence , lemon zest and juice.
5. Beat in the  eggs, poppy seeds & milk.
6. Finally fold in flour.
7. Pour the mixture in a lined tin and bake for 45 minutes.
8. Leave it to cool and cut into squares

Lamb Steaks with Warm salad of Purple Sprouting Broccoli and new Potatoes dressed with lemon, garlic and anchovies

These lovely Lamb steaks were suppose to be cooked in the camping stove in lovely rural Derbyshire , but it was insanely cold and  with a predicted frost and rain we had to give up and  dig the car out of the swampy campsite.

All this meant these  lamb steaks  marinated for 48hours which meant they were deliciously tender

Lamb , rosemary and anchovies just get on so well  I often rub  anchovies over a leg of lamb before roasting but here I kept them separate in a delicious warm salad of seasonal vegetables with new potatoes and purple sprouting broccoli

I could eat this as a simple salad perhaps with the addition of a little feta cheese or a poached egg.

Marinated Lamb Steaks with rosemary

2 Lamb Leg Steaks
Bunch of rosemary
2 cloves of garlic crushed
4 tbsp of red wine
Salt and pepper

1. Mix together the rosemary, garlic , red wine and salt and pepper in a plastic bag
2. Add the lamb steaks and leave for at least 24 hours
3. Grill or fry until cooked, for medium rare 5 minutes either side

Warm salad of Purple Sprouting Broccoli and new Potatoes dressed with lemon, garlic and anchovies

30g of tinned anchovies – finely chopped
Zest and juice of halt a lemon
1 tbsp of olive oil
1 clove of garlic grated/crushed
Salt and Pepper

1. Make the dressing by mixing  together the anchovies, lemon juice and zest, olive oil and garlic .
2. Season with salt and pepper
3. Boil the new potatoes and steam the purple sprouting broccoli
4. While hot toss the cooked potatoes and broccoli in the dressing and leave for a few minutes .

Baked Scotch Eggs

Nick is not a big chocolate fan so when thinking about Easter eggs  decided to make scotch eggs for our camping trip which I thought they would be perfect fuel for walking .
 

We don’t have a deep fat fryer so I was a bit worried about attempting these with a shallow frying pan , fortunately over at FoodStories Helen had carried out a full scientific experiment proving they could be made baked.

These were monster scotch eggs 3 inches wide but totally delicious , I now want to try making with plenty of other fillings , if you are looking for inspiration for sausagemeat flavouring I can definitely  reccomend The Handmade Scotch Eggs Company pages. If my pictures don’t inspire you you can mail order packs of six with morrocan options ,chocolate , black pudding , cheesy  they even have vegetarian options with kidney beans .

Baked Scotch Eggs

Makes 4 Scotch eggs

5 eggs
400g of good quality sausages or sausagemeat ( if you are using sausagemeat you will need to add seasoning , salt , pepper , parsley , sage and nutmeg)
1 medium leek finely chopped
100g of breadcrumbs , made from toasted bread finely chopped in the foodprocessor

1. Hardboil 4 of the eggs , for 6 minutes , remove and plunge into cold water
2. Remove the sausage meat from the skins or  if you are using sausagemeat at this point you will need to add seasoning
3. Mix in the chopped leeks
4. Remove the shell from the eggs .
5. Divide the sausagemeat into four
6. Flatten a piece in your hand , put the egg in the middle squeeze the sausagemeat over to completely cover the egg , complete with all the eggs
7. Refridgerate for 20 minutes
8. Take the uncooked egg and beat on a plate
9. Heap the breadcrumbs on another plate
10. Roll each sausagemeat coated egg first in the egg , then in the breadcrumbs
11. Place on a baking sheet lined with greaseproof paper
12. Bake at 180degc for 30 minutes , turning halfway through.