Beef and Pumpkin Chilli

I adore squash not only do they taste amazing they are beautiful to look at  grow brilliantly even in the British climate but .Watching our little pumpkin grow has been heaven as it stretched it’s little tendrils across the vegepatch.

The plant came from LBF’s parents who always grow a lot of squash . That being said this was the only little Pumpkin that grew well this year,  lots of squashes rotted on the vine.

Pumpkin loves spice so looking around the internet quite a few chillis came up with mostly pork and beef .  Fortunately we had a rolled Brisket of Lincolnshire Red Beef from the East Midlands Food Festival.  One of the oldest of the UK’s native beef breeds with a deep cherry-red coat, it is  fine marbled meat renowned for its texture and quality.

I kept the meat and the pumpkin large for a slow cook,  it smelt exquisite sweet and spicy definitely one of those dishes you could cook the night before and re-heat. The meat was falling  apart tasty and the pumpkin had just held its shape but still  melt in the mouth.  I might have to go beg a few squash from those with a glut to make this again

This recipe is an adaptation of a few I found around the internet

Beef and Pumpkin Chilli

300g of beef brisket cut into 1inch chunks
4 dried red chillis
300g of tinned tomatoes
500g of pumpkin/butternut squash , remove the skin and cut into 1inch chunks
1 bottle of lager ( 500ml )
100ml of beef stock
1 medium onion finely chopped
4 cloves of garlic
1 tsp of ground coriander
2 tsp smoked paprika
2 tsp of hot chilli powder
2 tbsp of sunflower oil

Method

1. Heat the oven to 175 deg C.
2. Rub the beef in the spices .
3. Heat the oil in a large cast iron dish , fry the onions  garlic and chilli.
4. Add the beef and fry until brown.
5. Add the tomatoes, pumpkin , stock and  lager.
6. Cover and place in the oven for at least two hours.

Serve with rice or bread

Liver with Chorizo, Onions and Mushrooms

Last night as we were tucking into dinner my lovely boyfreind said outloud “Sometimes I worry that everyone will find out how delicious liver is and it will get really expensive.” Probably the reason I love him is I knew exactly what he meant and felt the same way. A good piece of liver is like filet steak fine textured tasty and it looks beautiful.

I like to have it simply fried ( though we tried BBQ a few months back and that was lovely ) Though liver and bacon is classic British cooking I love it with chorizo the salty spiceness it’s a Spanish touch especially if you add some sherry to degalze the pan.

I like it with some peppery salad leaves rocket or watercress and crusty bread.

Lambs Liver with Chorizo Mushrooms and Onions

300g of lambs liver sliced to ensure it is no more than 1/2 cm thick
100g of cooking chorizo
100g of mushrooms
1 medium onion finely sliced
2 cloves of garlic sliced
2 tbsp of olive oil
100ml of fino sherry
Fresh parsley

1. Fry the onions and garlic til soft in oil
2. Add the cooking chorizo.
3. Finally add the mushrooms and sherry and cooked til reduced.
4. In a separate pan heat a little butter and fry the liver for just a two minutes on each side it should stay pink in the middle

Slow Roasted Pork Belly with Celeriac and Potato Mash & Cobnut Gremolata

I am feeling happily autumnal it has started to get cold and so I am happy to have the oven on for a few hours in the evening.

Pork Belly it seems to have become a national obsession and in our house LBF claims at least once a week that  we havn’t had pork belly for ages , luckily usaully have the dated photographic evidence to the contrary but it being summer the last  time it was at my mums on the BBQ a few months ago.

Its officially autumn now though with the launch of Autumnwatch and that means delicious slow roasted pork belly . After a little trip to the butchers and Nick was bag with an almost 1kg piece with the ribs still attached.

Slow Roast Pork Belly & Gravy

4 cloves of garlic skin on
Few woody springs of rosemary
2 medium onions
100ml of cider

1. Score the pork belly rub with salt
2. Place rosemary sprigs , garlic into the bottom of the Into the oven at 150degC for about 2 hours
3. Remove the meat from the roasting dish
4. Degalze the roasting dish with the cider , then strain through a seive to remove the rosemary and garlic cloves
5. Thicken the sauce with 1 tsp of cornflour and season to taste

Some lovely seasonal ingredients to accompany the pork just appearing in markets now  ,celeriac the ugly vegetables combined with potatoes makes a delicious mash or dauphinoise.

Celariac and Potato Mash
I love celeriac but you do need to add potatoe to make dense mash

1. Equal amounts of potato and celeariac
2. Simmered til soft
3. Mash together , add butter a dash of milk
4. Season with Salt and Pepper

For super-seasonal ingredients I picked up a bag of cobnuts,a cultivated variety of hazelnut, , sometimes known as filberts, have been grown in gardens and orchards since at least the 16th century. Unique among nuts for  being sold and eaten fresh & green during September and October . Cobnuts taste creamy and sweet, I ate half the bag green the other half  I let dry out once toasted though they become even more sublime nutty, perfect with cheese or sweet desserts .

I decided to make a Gremolata with the cobuts traditionally a gremolata is  a mix of parlsey  lemon , and salt , perfect to add a light taste to a heavy stew or in this case fatty  pork and gravy . It added a lovely sour crunchy note to the dish.

Parsley , Lemon and Cobnuts
50g of cobnuts
4 tbsp of  finely chopped parsley
zest and juice of a lemon.

1. Toast the cobnuts until browned
2. Crush in a mortar & pestle
3. Mix with lemon juice, zest and parsley

Slow Cooked Spiced Lamb Shanks with Dates

I had to work all day today stuck staring at my computer. Thankfully on Friday night I had made the dinner ,  throwing ingredients in with the lamb shanks into the oven for an uniterrupted cook . I am suddenly very happy it’s autumn my wooly tights can come out my lovely boots and all those delicious slow cooked stews and roasts.

This was a definite result a sticky brown sauce  from dates and caramalised onions  and the meat from the shanks falls off the bone . Lovely with mashed pototoes or some fluffy cous cous.

Slow Cooked Spiced Lamb Shanks with Dates

2 Lamb Shanks
2 handfuls of dates cut into quarters
1 pint of water
2 medium onions finely sliced
2 garlic cloves finely chopped
2 tbsp of ras al hanout
1 star anise
2 tbsp of olive oil

1. Rub the ras al hanout over the lamb shanks
2. Heat the olive oil in a cast iron dish
3. Brown the lamb on all sides,  add the onions and garlic
4. Pour over the water and bring to a gentle simmer
5. Cover and place in a medium oven 180degC for two hours.
6. If possible leave overnight in the oven and reheat for at least 20 minutes at 180degC
7. If it is not possible to leave overnight allow to rest for at least 30 minutes before serving

Roast Shoulder of Lamb over Boulanger Potatoes

A few months ago we visit the National Trusts Hardwick Hall in Derbyshire , we took the opportunity of visiting  Hardwick Park Farm run by Richard and Clare Aldis as part National Trusts  share farmers on the estate the rare breeds feed on fodder from the estates considerable . The lamb beef and pork  include home-cure bacon & sausages.

Spoilt by choice and resisted totally filling the freezer with a whole jointed lamb,  bought a beautiful rolled shoulder of lamb, It had been so beautifully tied i didn’t want to casserole which I am always  tempted to which lamb shoulder .  It is a cut that likes a slow wet cook and I am a sucker for a  meal that can just sit in the oven. Nigel Slater reccomends a lamb recipe where the lamb sits on bars above sliced potatoes, this seems to be an adaptatation of a Boulanger potatoes where sliced potatoes are baked in stock , in this case the lamb provides its own stock, its kind of a reverse hotpot .

The meat was beautfully roasted moist inside but with almost a lamb crackling , the potatoes were just delicious we could have polished off the whole dish but sensible have popped a few into the freezer they can be quickly defrosted in the oven and are great with a steak.

Lamb and Boulanger Potatoes
1kg rolled shoulder or leg of lamb
500g of Finely sliced potatoes
2 cloves of garlic
300ml of water
Bunch of fresh thyme
Salt and Pepper

1. Mix the garlic with thyme leaves and rub half over the lamb
2. Mix the sliced potatoes with the other half
3. Layer the potatoes into a baking dish, pour over the water
4. Place the lamb on top
5. Cover with foil
6. Place the lamb and potatoes oven at 180degG for 1.5 hours for the last half hour remove the foil
7. Finally remove the lamb and allow to rest giving the potatoes another 20 minutes to crisp

Chinese Braised Beef Ribs

Braised Beef Ribs , I have been a very bad blogger recently nothing has tasted or looked quite the way it should and so there haven’t been any recipes.

I bought these ribs last weekend , at 8 inches long and like something out of the Flintstones , Brontosauras burger anyone , I had planned to BBQ them but the weather has been against me clearly this serves me right for buying a  new BBQ.

Ribs need a good long cook to ensure they are not tough so I went for a slow-braise rather than a roast and although my first thought was red wine instead I want for something with some spice. The ribs were delicious meaty but with a zingy sauce especially with fluffy rice and cruncy steamed green veggies.

Chinese Braised Beef Ribs
4 beef short ribs
75 ml of rice wine
20ml of soy sauce
20ml of rice wine vinegar
3 tbsp of brown sugar
1 tsp of crushed red chillis
1 tsp of ground ginger
2 cloves of garlic
1 tsp of ground star anise

1. Mix together the ginger , garlic , star anise and chilli .
2. Rub the mix over the ribs
3. Place in a oven proof dish fat side down
4. Pour over the rice wine, vinegar , soy sauce.
5. Cover with foil and place in the oven at 150degC
6. Cook for 2 hours , uncover turn over the ribs and cook with the foil off for the last half hour
7. Remove the ribs and leave to rest.
8. Seperate the fat from the cooking juices , taste and season with additional chilli and ginger as required . If you want the sauce to be thickened a little cornflour can be added

Chimmichurri Sauce

Definitely not a sauce for those not enamoured of garlic or chilli , Chimichurri is a delicious green sauce or marinade from South America that I can feel doing me good as I eat it . Delicious with chargrilled BBQ steaks or fish we had it last night with  lovely Sirloin steaks and new potatoes.

Chimichurri

Makes enough for 8 servings

5 cloves of garlic minced
Large bunch of parsley , oregano & thyme finely chopped
1 large green chilli chopped
1 tsp of red chilli flakes
5 tbsp of red wine vinegar
1/2 cup of olive oil

Mix together all the ingredients and leave them to mature for at least 4 hours

GW Dundas Butchers My Local Food Hero

 I pretty much swore when I moved in with LBF that I would reduce his carnivore instincts. However,  I had not reckoned on the power of GW Dundas and his delicious meats. Gary Dundas has two branches a few miles apart in Breaston and Draycot , our closest is to the Breaston branch it’s walking distance.

We were having a quiet Saturday , so I wanted to stop by and say thank you for the lovely liver from Friday and I remembered my camera. A tiny shop,you can get two people inside and unlike many butchers the produce is not piled high although there is plenty of dry-cured bacon and sausages. Dundas does have everything you can imagine out the back requests are often accompanied by hacking and sawing , joints are beautifully tied and nothing is packed in plastic. For people of my mums generation this is the norm but I am of the supermarket generation and still look with awe at butchers, especially in an area dominated by massive Tesco and Asda.

Dundas stands independent and proud. I am nominating Dundas butchers for a The Good Food Market Kitchen Local Food Hero 2009. In their fourth year these reward local  farm shops to food producers, online businesses, restaurants nominations and voting  close on the 7th of August 2009. 

So as I tuck into todays offering a lovely beef joint we have rare roasted, I offer up a few of Dundas wares

One day I  casually ask Nick to get some pork ribs an we get something I would make Fred Flintstone envious, we BBQd these pork ribs.

As for Kidneys and these beautiful little jewels were so firm I didn’t want to cook with them but wear them a la Florence and the Machine Lungs album cover

Shoulder of Lamb beautifully rolled and tied roasted with rosemary, garlic and fennel seeds.

Beef Brisket sweet and tender after its slow cooking with vegetables but still holding it’s shape.

BBQ Lambs Liver with red onions , parsley and lemon

Who knew anyone could be more infectiously enthusiastic about seasonal food than Hugh Fearnley Whittigstall and then the BBC finds Valentine Warner a self confessed glutton for fresh seasonal food. A man whose eyes and mouth widen constantly at the sight of the latest seasonal produce. His  show What to Eat Now gives you the best of the season . The current series is summer the topic for this weeks episode BBQ .Warner  covered  a range of BBQ meat , fish and veggires with spicy sauces chimichurri and salmoriglio, I counted more than 12 recipes in a single episode. One thing stuck in my mind as a must try a quickly as possible  BBQ liver,  as a total offal obsessive liver is cheap and healthy and delicious.

BBQ Lambs Liver

One lambs liver makes two large liver steaks or you can cut into strips and place on skewers. Brush the steaks with a little oil ,BBQd  for just a minute on either side keeping them pink in the middle . The taste was exquisite rich liver,  smoky from the BBQ  served with a squeeze of lemon , red onions & fresh parsley to cut the richness of the meat.

Usually we end up with pitta bread when BBQing but again inspired by Warner I wanted to try cooking flat bread on the BBQ people having been doing it for thousands of years and it really was very easy so no more shop bought.

BBQ Flat Bread
4 cups of mix wholemeal and plain flour
2 cups of water
1/2 cup of oil
2 tbsp of yeast
1 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar

1. Mix together the ingredients to form and dough
2. Knead for 5 minutes, leave for a further 5 minutes
3. Divide into 6 , flatten each and place on the hot BBQ grill for a few minutes either side. The bread can be placed straight on the grill bars no pan is required.

The liver would have been enough but like Warner we are gluttons and these little lamb chops have been in the freezer a while

BBQ Lamb Chops

Tiny lamb chops marinated overnight with rosemary lemon and garlic cooked in a few minutes over the BBQ served with olives and sundried tomatoes

Pork Chops with Gooseberry and Sage Sauce

I was very excited last week to find gooseberries in the greengrocer , I used to eat so many unripe gooseberries from my grans garden they gave me tummy ache. When I finally learnt some patiences and they ripend I love the sensation of them popping in my mouth and over my chin,  sour and sweet.

I was trying to think what to do with them Gooseberry , crumble or fool is a classic.  But I had a thought spring recipes were bursting with pork and rhubarb recipes exclaiming the delights of fatty fatty pork and the acidity of rhubarb. A recent convert to the delights of speedy pork chops for dinner,  I wondered if the same could be said for tart gooseberries. Of a quick google showed it wasn’t an original thought Gooseberry sauce is also good with Mackerel and Duck Breast  too so I thought I would be onto a good thing.

The result combining gooseberry with leaves from our rampant sage plants was delcious and fantastic with pork chops, I will be playing around with this recipe and perhaps trying it with some mackerel if we get near the seaside this year. Sadly it photographs a bit like snot but you cannot have everything.

Gooseberry and Sage Sauce

200g of gooseberries
50ml of water
1 heaped tbsp of sugar
1 handful of fresh sage
Salt and Pepper

1. Bring the gooseberries to a gentle simmer in the water
2. Add the sugar and sage and cook for 5 minutes until the gooseberries have broken down
3. Taste but makes sure you blow on the sauce boiling fruit can do serious damage to your tastebuds add more sugar if it is too sour
4. Season with a little salt and pepper

Pork Chops
Season the pork chops well with salt and pepper
Place under a medium grill for 10 minutes or so turning once
Allow to rest for a few minutes before serving with the sauce