Rabbit with Onions and Prunes

Tonights dinner was inspired by recent brief trips to Morroco and France. In Marrakech I had a lovely lamb with onion and prune tagine heaped with saffron-sweet caramalised onions. It was so good I had it two days running.   I wondered if it had been inspired by a classic French dish – Rabbit with prunes.

Although I have cooked with Rabbit successfully before in Barley Stew  and with Chorizo and Mushrooms  ,however my last encounter did not go well , so badly in fact it got binned it smelt bad .  So it was with some trepidation I experimented with this dish. Jointing the rabbit is hard it smells pretty strong and meaty.

The results were worth the risk ,  tender melt in the mouth rabbit,  soft onions and sweet prunes with just a hint of alcohol from the brandy.  Dish wipingly delicious

Rabbit with Onion and Prunes
1 large rabbit jointed
5 onions finely sliced
10 strands of saffron
50ml of french brandy
25 dried prunes
2 pints of boiling water
1 tbsp of butter

1. Fry the onions in half the butter on the hob in a cast iron pot, cover and occasionally stir . Cook for  long enough to allow the onions to soften & caramalise.
2. Remove the onions set aside , add the rabbit  to the pot , turning the pieces to allow to brown on all sides
3. Pour  boiling water over the saffron in a mug
4. Return the onions and rabbit into a cast iron cooking pot
5. Pour over the saffron water ,  brandy and add the prunes
6. Cover , place in the oven and cook for at least 2 hours at 180degC
7. Allow to rest covered for 30 minutes before serving  .

Serve with warm french bread and peas

Spicy Green Tomato Chutney

A couple of weekends ago I had to accept that Summer was over & that last of the tomatoes were never going to ripen. Green Tomatoes seem very popular in the US not so much here in the UK , however I ead  few recipes and since the chillis did ripen and I had some foraged apples , I decided to play around with a spicy green tomato chutney.

I would reccomend playing around with quantities of sugar and vinegar though this can effect how the chutney keeps . We started eating this straight away and I can reccomend it with  cheese and homemade oatcakes



Spicy Green Tomato Chutney

Makes one 500ml jar

2 tbsp of root ginger
2 cardamon pods – seeds only
2 large fresh red chillies
200g green tomatoes, chopped
100g of apples
50g of dates (finely chopped) or raisins
100g of onion chopped
Pinch of salt salt
25g of brown sugar
75ml  of malt vinegar

1. Put all the ingredients in a saucepan
2. Bring to the boil, stirring until the sugar has dissolved, and simmer until the desired consistency is reached, I like mine quite chunky
3. Pour into warmed sterilised jars,

Freshly Caught Trout

I was a bit scared when LBF said that he was going to learn fly fishing ,it’s not that I am squeamish or have ethical objections . No it’s the gear… there is a lot of gear , rods , flies , stools tackle boxes even tents. . I once worked at an antique fishing tackle auction (Yes, they do exist) , people spent hundreds , even thousands of pounds on antique fishing flies and stuffed fish.

But LBF is no fool, he knows exactly how to get round me , “I will catch you a fish” , “Pff forget the macho posturing”. But he is no fool and delivered the one killer line,  “Think how bloggable that will be.”  I was sold I even packed him off fishing at stupid o’clock on a Saturday morning with roasted pork sandwiches.

True to his word on his first ever fishing trip he caught a 2lb rainbow trout, which I generously let him gut and cook. It was incredibly delicate tasting and pale white flesh rather than the luminous pink I am used to.

We cooked it simple wrapping the fish in foil with a scattering of fresh leeks , fresh lemon , sprigs of fresh thyme , butter and a twist of salt and pepper.

British Apples Crumble , Tart and Roast

Last weekend we went apple picking . A patch by the railwayside amongst all the scrub land there are many abandoned  apple trees. I wonder if this was an orchard once because there are a lot of varieties from dark red to pale yellow now the area  is almost inaccessible and forgotten with the fruit groaning on the trees and falling to the ground.

Britain has more than 3000 varieties of native apples however data from Natural England showed orchards in  England have declined by 63% since 1950. In 2007  imported nearly 70% of our apples (Defra Basic Horticultural Statistics 2008).

However more and more community Orchards are being created up and down the country, more people are planting fruit trees in their gardens, micro cider-makers are flourishing, old traditional orchards are being valued and conserved by Natural England and others for the richness of wild life they support and thousands visit Apple Day events.

We picked a few kilos but I have needed to put in some time to make them into something nice  so a few recipes.

This tart is an homage to those beautiful french tart aux pommes , I had to leave the skins on because they were just too pretty , it takes time to layer them onto the pastry but it is quite meditative, you cannot eat just one slice perfect with a little whipped double cream .

Apple Tart

An apple tart

400g of apples ( half peeled & half skin on
100g of plain flour
50g of butter
20ml of water

1. Grease a 30cm fluted tart case
2. Preheat the oven to 190degC
3. Take the peeled apples add the cinamon , sugar and pour over the water
4. Cover & simmer until the apples have complete softened to form a puree
5. Meanwhile crumb togehter the butter and flour
6. Add the water to form a pastry and chill in the fridge for 20 mins
7. Finely slice the apples and place in water with a little lemon juice
8. Roll out and line the tart case
9. Line with greaseproof paper and lentils or baking beads
10. Bake in the oven for 10 minutes
11. Fill with the apple puree and lay over the sliced apple, bake for a further 30minutes

I adore apple crumble it is a taste of childhood and so simple to make I think everyone makes it in school cooking classes, it suit small hands to crumble the butter into the flour . But the taste of toasted crumble topping with sweet/sour fruit is divine espeically with some melting vanilla ice cream. So delicious I am wondering if I can justify it as a breakfast dish.

Apple Crumble

200g of apples peeled cored and roughly chopped
4tbsp of sugar
5 tbsp of water
1 tsp of cinamon

Crumble

25g of butter
50g of demara sugar
100g of flour
100g of rolled oats

1. Heat the oven to 180degC
2. Mix the apples with the water sugar and cinamon and place in an overproofdish
3. Crumb together the butter and flour
4. Mix in the oats and sugar
5. Cover the apples and place in the oven for 40 minutes until golden brown.

I even used them with a pork joint rubbed with fennel seeds and roasted with quartered apples that form an uncutous apple caramel sauce , delicious with the pork in sandwiches.

Fruits of the Forage

I have been laying down the stocks of wild autumn fruits ,  the fruits of a little foraging, some of my tips for a little feminine foraging  Foraging for wild fruits is fun if a little injurous , why do the tastiest fruits have the spikiest thorns.

Rosehips who can resist beautiful  bright red globes that beg to be used , high in vitamin C, just make sure you remove the potentially irritating seeds in any recipe . Rosehip syrup is a sweet sour recipe  perfect for sweet foods on baked apple or from glazing meats like pork or lamb.

Rosehip Syrup Recipe
400g of rosehips
1 pint of water
100g of sugar

1. Simmer the rosehips in the water for 15 minutes, mash and return to a simmer for a further 15 minutes
2. Strain through muslin to remove the fruit pulp
3. Stir in the sugar and warm over a gentle heat
4. Pour into sterilised jars

Damsons, there were foraged but not by me, I found a large box of these at the market , they don’t seem to grow round here or maybe I haven’t found a good spot yet , beautiful purple skin and pale flesh but when cooked they realease a striking purple

I was thinking jam,  but I am not that into sweet things on toast Damson cheese is thicker and slightly sour so it goes perfectly with cheese and colds meats , I made a lot since it freezes well.

Damson Cheese
1kg of damsons
100ml of water
White granulated sugar (200g to each 200ml of damson puree)
A squeeze of fresh lemon juice

1. Wash the fruit
2. Bring the damsons & water  to a gentle simmer and cook very  until all fruit is soft and falling of the stones.
3. When fruit is very soft, remove from the heat and cool before straining and pressing through a medium sieve. Discard the stones.Pour fruit into a measuring jug and return to the cleaned pan with the sugar and lemon juice.
4. Stir over a gentle heat stir until sugar is dissolved.
5. Bring to the boil and continue to boil briskly. Stir constantly, to stop the sugar burning on the base of the saucepan. 
6. Ladle into warm sterilised jars and seal once cool.

Sloe too are beautiful purple globes I make  sloe gin every , its strikingly easy and a lovely warming treat for winter but ideally should be laid down for at least a year.

Sloe Gin Recipe
500g  sloes
100g caster sugar
2 pint gin

1. Prick the tough skin of the sloes all over with a clean needle ( or freeze overnight and hit with a rolling pin ) . Place in a sealable bottle or sterilised jar.
2. Pour in the sugar and the gin, seal and shake well.
3. Store in a cool, dark cupboard and shake every other day for a week,
4. Leave for at least three months it should be dark purple and ready to drink.

Blackberries can be used in the same way to make a gin or vodka but can also be used tomake fruit vinegar which I love to add to beef or lamb stews , it is also especially good on beetroot and goats cheese salads. Fruitier than balsamic vinegar, you can use the same methods with raspberries or strawberries

Blackberry Vinegar
500g grams blackberries
4 tbsp sugar
500 ml white wine vinegar

1. Place the berries in the vinegar leave to soak for one week
2. Add the sugar Bring to a gentle simmer for one minute
3. Pour the mixture through a fine strainer to remove the berries’ flesh and seeds.
4.  Put the strained vinegar into bottles

Tofu and Chinese Mushroom Stir Fry

I have been foraging properly picking  sloes and  rosehips but these require preperation, so  something quick and what is quicker than stir fry using  a little jelly ear fungi which grows on the elder trees around here.  I have a terrible habit of picking this fungi and leaving it in my pocket to dry out , it finds it into the washing machine pretty often

This made it into a lovely stir fry though , sliced and stir fried with a selection of vegetables and tofu . I love the bite of jelly fungus.

You can also dry the jelly fungus on string over a radiator once dry  it will keep for weeks , to rehydrate soak in cold water for a couple of hours .

A quick cheap meal using up lots of vegetables  with the jelly fungus , Broccoli , Onions , Green Beans and Courgettes all stir fried in a sauce of fresh Ginger ,  finely chopped Garlic a Soy Sauce

Welsh Wine and Bilberry Pancakes

Back from camping and the Green Man Festival  it was a wonderful opportunity to camp on the site a few days before the festival started properly , despite it being the 4th time I have been to Green Man you never get the chance to explore the area.

The festival is held near Sugar Loaf Mountain on the edge of the Brecon Beacons, Wales  the mountains around dominate the festival but I have never climbed them.

During the three days we managed a walk a day but the most major of which was a walk was up Sugar Loaf Mountain

At the foot of the moutain is the  Sugar Loaf Vineyard well worth a visit they do tours, and wine-tastings with welsh cheese.

Apparently the grapes grow well, so long as there is no heavy rain before the grapes fill with juice and the skin become thin and easily bruised. We bought a couple of bottles an Abergavenny, a medium dry fruity wine and a Rose , which is a new wine for the vineyard but is thriving in Wales. While there I heard an ansaphone message placing an order for a few cases of the sparkling wine, so business is good.

We enjoyed the Abergavenny on the campsite it was delicious and nice to be having something so unexpectedly local.

Some other delicious little berries to be found  this time growing wild on Welsh mountains are  Billberries a little like Blueberries or Blackcurrants they are tart little berries growing close to the ground, flame red and yellow leaves and the season wears on.  Plenty still available on the hillsides though it is coming to the end of the harvest.

They take some gathering without a proper tool but are delicious in pancakes should you inbibe a little too much Welsh wine

Pancake Recipe
1 1/2 cups plain flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
pinch of salt
1 tsp sugar
2 large eggs, beaten
2 tablespoons butter, melted and cooled
1 1/2 cups milk
butter for frying

Make a well in the flour, baking powder, salt, and sugar, beat in the eggs, melted butter, and milk, and transfer to a jug
Leave the batter for 20 minutes before using it
Add a dot of butter to a hot pan , once the top begins to blister add the billberries and turn the pancake cook for a few minutes

Blackberry and Apple Galette and Cake

Managed a lovely walk not to far from home on Saturday, just round the corner in fact. I busied myself picking blackberries. Growing up I was regularly press-ganged into service,  gathering blackberries, fungi , mussels , bricks from skips and I expect a level of foraging focus, with no thought for personal safety this is perhaps why my lower legs are now covered in bites and nettle stings. Is it wrong I am starting to get a slight buzz from the nettle tingle.  LBF has a more relaxed (less obsessive) approach proferring just a few handfuls of berries and  observing the native wildlife.

I was so busy giving my foraging work ethics lecture that it was up to LBF to spot a  fruit laden apple tree on the way home and filled the rest of my bag with apples, avoiding the wasps eating the rotten apples

Perhaps it was the excitement of some fresh ingredients but I woke up very early on Sunday morning before dawn in fact , but after sunrise I sat on the patio peeling apples, drinking tea and catching up on the Archers. By the time LBF surfaced at 11.30am I was a picture of domesticity and had decided to make a couple of cakes, one to take down to the folks next weekend and one for us should I need a sugar hit in the week.

Apple and Blackberry Galette

Galette is a pie for those that cannot make pies all it requires it the ability to gently gather together pastry and pinch, the result is attrative money bag shaped pie this works for soft fruits like nectarines , peaches and plums too.

Pastry
200g of plain flour
100g of butter
40ml of cold water

1 egg yolk to glaze

1. Rub the butter into the flour to form breadcrumbs
2. Add the water slowly to form a dough
3. Place in the refridgerator for at least 20 minutes

Apple and Blackberry Filling

200g of apples
200g of blackberries washed
2 tbsp of demara sugar
1 tbsp of cinamon

Peel the apples , core and finely slice
Mix with the cinmon and sugar and leave for 20 minutes

To form the galette

1. Roll out the pastry in a disk shape til 5mm thick, lay onto a flat baking sheet onto a sheet of baking paper
2. Place the apples into the centre of the disk and pile high with the blackberries
3. Gather the pastry up around the apples a pinch at the top forming an open sack
4. Brush the pastry with the egg yolk
5. Bake in a preheated oven at 180degc for 40 minutes

Blackberry and Apple Cake

Blackberry and Apple Cake , I used this recipe from BBC Good Food , but I trippled the amount of apple, though I thought this might make it too moist it worked fine. I love these kind of cakes , thick slices with cups of tea.

Seasonal Salads , Pearl Barley , Brown Rice and Bean

 

I wasn’t surprised by the news that many mayonnaise based supermarket salads contain more fat than a big Mac . They never look particularly appetising .Salads should be fresh flavours , seasonal vegetables , herbs,  grains , pulses. I always think there will be some left for lunch the next day but damn if the bowl isn’t always scrapped clean.
The following dishes all serve two very greedy people.

Barley and Courgette Salad

I recently saw pearly barley in salad referred to as wheatberries it doesn’t  have  a lot of inherent flavour but and lovely chewy textures it’s is definitely worth trying with dressings of lemon or balsamic vinegar. Served above with salmon but also would work well with grilled chicken or lamb.

150g of Pearl Barley simmered in boiling water for 1 hour
4 small courgettes steam and chopped into small 1/2 cm pieces
2 tbsp of freshley chopped parsley
2 tbsp of Preserved Lemon
1 tsp of Poppy Seeds
Juice and zest of half a lemon
Salt and Pepper

Brown Rice and Smoked Mackerel Salad

Brown rice is nutty and delicious better than more expensive wild rice . This is almost a kedgeree salad , with plenty of crunchy vegetables , and smoky fish.

150g of brown rice
3 fillets of Smoked Mackerel
1 red pepper
1salad onion finely chopped
1 heaped tbsp of capers
2 heaped tbsp of black olives
2 heaped tbsp of fresh parsley finely chopped
2 tbsp of olive oil
1tbsp of balsamic vinegar
Salt and Pepper

Tuna Bean Salad

This is a classic and shortly will get even better with french beans straight from the garden .

200g of dried beans ( kidney , chick pea , turtle beans) soaked overnight and simmered for 50 minutes
150g tin of tuna
1 tbsp of capers
2 tbsp of black olives
2 spring onions finely chopped
Dressing , 2 tbsp of balsamic vinegar , 1 tbsp of olive oil , 1 tsp wholegrain mustard Salt and Pepper

Lamb Shanks in White Wine and White Beans

A very relaxing day being a cat, I had a proper lie in and then padded around the house stretching and settling. Listening to the bees buzz and birds sing.   I found some lamb shanks in the freezer and was thinking it wasn’t a season for casserole, but I found a few recipes where they could be cooked in white wine. This long slow cook resulted in melt in the mouth meat and beans dissolving into a roasted vegetablesauce that cried out to be mopped with some crusty bread.

Lamb Shanks in White Wine and White Beans

2 Lamb Shanks
200g of dried mixed white beans , butter beans , flagolet &  haricot beans
100g of fresh tomatoes roughly chopped
300ml of white wine
1 large onion finely sliced
3 cloves of garlic finely chopped
Handful of fresh thyme and oregano
1 tbsp of olive oil

1. Soak the beans for at least 12 hours in water.
2. Season the lamb shanks with salt and pepper.
3. Heat the oven oil in a cast iron casserole dish.
4. Add the lamb shanks and brown on each side
5. Add the onions , garlic , beans, tomatoes , herbs and white wine
6. Bring to a simmer , cover and place in the oven at 160degC for at least 2 hours.