Rabbit with Butter Beans and Spring Greens

For lunch on Easter Sunday we had Rabbit, we ate the Easter Bunny, acutally just it’s legs which are the bit with the most meat on them. Rabbit does need slow cooking or it can be very tough once cooked it is a bit like gamey chicken – like Partridge

These legs are from wild rabbits from the RoosterMan, a regular at the local farmers market selling Wild Boar, Rabbits and Roosters. You can watch him skin the rabbits which is good because I am definitely be wary of buying rabbits since I lot of them are comercially farmed in China and Eastern Europe and most recently there are been some disturbing tales in The Independent and the Guardian about plans for rabbit battery farms.

I  ut all this is the pressure cooker for 25 minutes on high worked a treat even with the butter beans cooking from dried. The recipe below is for those without a pressure cooker. 

Rabbit with Butter Beans and Spring Greens

2 Rabbit Legs  ( You could use a whole rabbit jointed )
200g of dried Butter Beans
1 small onion finely chopped
2 rashers of smoked bacon
2 cloves of garlic
1 pint of boiling water

1. Fry the onion , garlic and smoked bacon, in the bottom of a heavy bottomed lidded saucepan
2. Add the rabbit legs to brown
3. Add the butter beans and water
4. Leave on a very low simmer for an hour the butter beans will absorb the water and the rabbit should become tender and falling off the bone. Check halfway through but check and add a little more if require
5. For the last 10 minutes add some shredded spring greens or kale.

Smoked Mackerel Fishcakes

Being a parent is bloody hard. I mean Begonia hard ( Trying to stop swearing, my late grandmother would always use Flower names rather than swear words – Delphiniums works in most situtions) Everyone tells you  being a parent is  hard, but somehow I didn’t listen.

I was looking forward to feeding Em solids, and to start with it went well. She started sleeping through, finally after months of breastfeeding other people could get involved feeding Em.

I was of course thinking though I will just puree what we eat , turns out though feeding a baby Jerk Pulled Pork is frowned upon and looking through our meals we have a lot of chilli in our food, not suitable for young vulnerable toungues. But it was sort of going OK , had some food she would eat a nice lentil pasta sauce , root vegetable purees some daal , plain yogurt, feeding herself prunes, apple and celery she was eating pints of plain yogurt in a week. In fact the only thing she wouldn’t eat was bananas.

Then it all went to pot, at first I though it was the new surroundings she would only eat porridge and yogurt. Doubting everything I even cracked and bought a pouch of Organic Baby Mush (another thing to tick of the list of things I swore I would never do – probably end up in McDonalds by the end of the year the way my principles are cracking)  I was both sad, glad she screamed at that too. I tasted the food , it was OK but it had that weird artificial tomato burn at the back of my throat, I think it comes from the heat treatment – because the ingredients list is certainly exemplary. I was relieved it wasn’t my cooking but still desperate to get her eating something more than porridge and yogurt.

Finally I noticed two teeth budding and then another two. But things got worse she wouldn’t even eat yogurt and porridge without being held rather than sitting in the highchair, then she wouldn’t eat it at all. Screaming when I carried her into the kitchen. She would still munch on celery or apples.

So mealtimes became a stressful time with neither of us having much fun, and then like all the baby phases it was gone, my nice friendly bouncy baby was back in her highchair grinning like a shark and with 4 new teeth to try some “grown-up” food.

We eat fishcakes a lot , they are a credit to my poor household management I always seem to make too much mashed potato, we always have some dried out bread lurking at the bottom of the breadbin. Once made they reheat really easily from frozen, great with all kinds of tinned or smoked fish you don’t need to get fresh fish.

Smoked Mackerel Fishcakes

Makes 8 large fishcakes

1 whole smoked mackerel or two fillets skinned and flaked
300g of mashed potato
1 tsp of minced garlic
1 tsp of English Mustard
3 handfuls of breadcrumbs
1 egg

1. Add the flaked fish , mustard , garlic to the mashed potato
2. Taste the mix & season with salt and pepper
3. Form into golf ball sized balls then flatten
4. Place the fishcakes in the fridge for 20 minutes
5. Beat an egg on one plate and one another place the breadcrumbs
6. Dip the fishcakes first in the egg , then in the breadcrumbs to coat
7. Place on a baking sheet and return to the fridge ( or freezer ) until you are ready to cook them.
8. Bake at 180degC for 15 minutes until golden brown ( Add 10 minutes if frozen)

Ox Heart – Three Ways – Burgers , Salad and Stir Fry

My local butchers sell a lot of strange cow parts , feet and stomach are a bit beyond me a the moment. I struggle with looking at my own feet, not sure I want to give something I am going to eat a pedicure.  But heart and tongue I can work with , first up Ox Heart so big I needed two hands to hold it and super-cheap at just £1.50 for 1.5kilos. It takes a little preperation, easier than filleting a fish , harder than shaping a burger.

Remove any tubes and sinews, even the heart strings ( Yes, they really exist)  You can also remove the obvious fat and save it for basting if you want the meat leat in your recipe , but for burger or stewing it’s good to leave a little on.

My first stop was Odd Bits by Jennifer McLaglan  definitely worth a read if you are considering experimenting with offal. Her reccomendation with heart is to either cook it for a very short or very long time with recipes for kebabs , braises even a heart tartare. But for trying heart for the first time . You need to mix  it with beef mince , I used my standard burger recipe half Ox Heart and half mince.

Ox Heart and Beef Burgers

4 fat burgers
150g of beef mince
150g of Ox Heart
6 tbsp of breadcrumbs
1 medium onion finely chopped
1 clove of garlic
1/2 tsp of english mustard
Pinch of salt

1. Mix together the beef , onion and mustard
2. Divide into four and shape into burgers 1cm thick
3. Place in the fridge for at least a hour
4. Place under a  hot grill 8 minutes on one side 4 on the second.

The next time I created Ox Heart Salad to ensure I could really test the texture of the Heart, it’s amazingly delicate soft like fillet steak with a hint of liver but not overpowering. Grilled very quickly and served with a great ingredient just coming into season pepper watercress.

Ox Heart , Watercress and Onion Salad with Horseradish Dressing

200g of  Ox Heart finely sliced 1/4 cm
1 bunch of watercress
1 red onion finely sliced
Freshly ground pepper
3 tbsp of horseradish sauce
1/2 tsp of sunflower oil

1. Toss the Ox Heart in the oil and  the black pepper
2. Fry in a hot pan for 30 seconds , turn over and turn the heat off
3. Remove the heart to a plate to rest for 30 seconds this will allow the juices to run off ( this is more for presentation)
4. Scatter the plate with watercress , then scatter over the Ox Heart , onion slices and drizzle with horseradish sauce

Finally with heart still left it goes a long way Stir Fry Purple Sprouting Broccoli with Ox Heart

1 hanful of purple sprouting broccoli
100g of Ox Heart finely sliced
1 tsp of crushed red chilli
1 clove of garlic finely chopped
1 tbsp of oil
5 tbsp of soy sauce.

1. Soak some rice noodles in boiling water
2. Heat a frying pan add the oil , garlic and chilli
3. Finally add the purple sprouting and fry for a few minutes til softed
4. Finally add the Ox Heart , fry on both sides for a few seconds
5. Add the noodles and a large slosh of soy sauce

Mackerel with Hot Sour Spicy Spring Greens

Mackerel is one of my favourite fish, it has a very strong flavour it doesn’t neccessarily lend itself to simple lemon and herbs. Like me in can handle some strong flavours and this dish is full of English Spring , purple sprouting brocolli  and spring greens but with a mighty wallop of hot and sour spice  heaped over grilled mackerel fillets which are grilled for a few minutes on each side.

Mackerel with Hot Sour Spicy Spring Greens

2 mackerel gutted and filleted ( make sure you remove the pinbones)

2 handfuls of purple sprouting brocoli
2 handfuls of Spring Greens shredded
1 clove of garlic finely chopped
1 finely chopped shallot
2 tsp of chilli flakes
1/2 tsp shrimp paste
1/2 tsp of sugar
1 tsp of fresh ginger finely chopped
3 tbsp of rice vinegar
3 tbsp of soy sauce
 

1. Fry the garlic , shallot and ginger in sunflower oil until softened
2. Add the shrimp paste
3. Add the purple sprouting and spring greens and stir well
4. Turn the heat off
5. Dash in the rice vinegar, soy sauce sugar and chilli and stir well
6. Cover the pan and leave for a minute to steam before serving.

Lamb Biryani

I was wittering about why I blog on Radio Nottingham   . The other guest was another Nottingham blogger also called Becky ,a professional blogger and author who  makes a living from her blog Baby Budgeting. It’s full of great tips on how to survive parenthood without going broke.

I don’t make any money from my blog but it still has such tremendous value to me, in the six years I have been writing it it has allowed me to record my life moving  from a single 20-something South Westerner to a 30-something coupled-up Midlander mother.It might seem strange to do it through food but honestly it’s always been a key memory for me,   my solo foraging forays , my commuting woes   meeting Nick , camping trips ,  weekends away , fun at festivals    moving to the Midlands , catering challenges ,  I even annouced my pregnancy  and the birth of Baby Em  through the food on my blog.

So often for me food marks the challenges and success in my life . This time I am happy to report it’s a  celebration, it might seem a small one but foe me it’s massive because after 7 months Emily has begun sleeping for 12 hours a night without me getting up every couple of  hours to feed her.

Of course I expected the sleepless nights.In fact when people asked me if I was ready for the sleepless nights I always replied that having been  an insomniac for years I cope with lack of sleep, this will be a breeze. I was an idiot in fact pretty much everything I thought pre-baby has proved to be wrong.

Because when you can’t sleep, you read a book , do some work , watch TV or take a walk. You know you will be tired the next day but you can drink another cup of tea. But when it’s your baby who cannot get to sleep , who is crying because they are so tired but still can’t get to sleep or stranger still blowing raspberries and singing at you rather than going to sleep. Slowly she got better, she learnt how to go to sleep,  but she still wanted to feed every couple of hours in the night, so I was still pretty sleep deprived, slowly very slowly she went longer and in the last few weeks , she started going all night

So we celebrate, with a classic indian festival dish Biryani.

Making biryani is a series of stages , cooking the meat, soaking the saffron in milk,  washing and cooking the rice and layering it all together, finally sealing a pot for the final cook. It suits taking care of a baby because there are some natural breaks , it also has a flexible end time , leaving the biryani sealed in the cooking pot it will keep warm for up to an hour.

Lamb Biryani

300g of basmatic rice
1/2 tsp of saffron
20ml of warm milk
3 medium onions
4 cloves of garlic
3 tbsp of garam masala ( Mix of  seeds coriander , cumin , cloves , mustard , nutneg, star anise)
3 green chillis
2 bay leaves
3 dried red chillis
1/2 lamb shoulder (750g) either removed from the bone and cubed or left whole ( this will require a longer cooking and then striping from the bone but I prefer it cooked this way)
5 tbsp of plain yogurt

Lamb Biryani

Preparing the meat

1. Warm a large cast iron pot on the stove
2. Add the onions , garlic, chilli , bay leaves and garam masala
3. Stir in the lamb , if it is a whole half shoulder cover and place in the oven at 150degC for 3 hours until the meat is falling off the bone ( or low in a slow cooker for 6 hours), shred the meat If the meat. If the meat is already cubed it will only take an hour at 180degC to become softened.
4. Stir the yogurt into the juices

Making the saffron milk

Warm the milk add the saffron and leave to steep for several hours

Preparing the rice

1. Wash the rice until the water runs clear
2. Simmer in salted boiling water for half the cooking time , approx 6 minutes
3. Remove from the water , drain well.
4. Alternatively , I like to cook rice in the microwave in a well sealled tupperware container just cover with boiling water and cook for 10 minutes then leave for 15 minutes covered. For this recipe half the cooking time.

Assembling the biryani

1. First place a layer of the lamb
2. Then the rice, repeat
3. Finally drizzle over the saffron and milk

Cooking the biryani

1. Seal the pot lid with a mix , equal amounts of flour and water paste , spread around the lid of the pot. Or you can wrap the whole pot in foil.
2. Bake in the oven at 160degC for 1 hour
3. To serve break open the pot seal

Cauliflower and Lentil Daal with Tandoori Chicken Livers

Over the Christmas holiday my mum served a lovely Cauliflower and Spiced Lentil dish. I am not a big fan of cauliflower but it was so good and I had seconds and thirds.

I really wanted to give Em some to try she certainly loves her lentils,  but was worried it might be a bit spicy so  I have made a version of this for her without the chillis , can’t wait to see if she likes it. We had a spicy version  it’s great to make ahead and reheat and so good that after having it with Tandoori Chicken Livers for Saturday dinner we were eating it again for Sunday breakfast

Cauliflower and Lentil  Daal

1 large onion finely chopped
2 garlic cloves finely chopped
2 tbsp of sunflower oil
2 green chillis left whole
1 tsp of mustard seeds
1 tbsp of garam masala
1 tsp of Asafoetida
1 tsp of tumeric
100g of red lentils
100g of chana dal
300g of cauliflower cut finger length pieces
1 tbsp of fresh coriander finely chopped

1. Fry the onions until softened and begging to brown in the oil
2. Add the garlic , tumeric, garam masala and mustard seeds
3. Fry until the onions and coated and the scent is rising
4. Add the lentils and cauliflower stir and quickly add enough boiling water to cover the lentils plus a cm. I like the cauliflower to be well cooked but you could add it halfway through the cooking if prefer it crunch
5. Cover and simmer on a low heat until the cauliflower is soft and the lentils have absorbed the water
6. Once cooked add the nigella seeds and some salt if required

Chicken Livers are one of my favourite ingredients in fact any liver, liver really works with spices. Tandoori Lamb or chicken livers are great cooked on skewers on the BBQ but work well under a hot grill too. Ready in minutes and instantly addictive delicious dipped in yogurt with mind and cucumber.

Tandoori Chicken Livers

1 tbsp of tandoori powder
3 tbsp of yogurt
200g of chicken livers

Remove any membranes from the chicken livers
Mix together the yogurt and powder
Toss the chicken livers in the mix
Place under a hot grill for 4 minutes turning halfway.

Beef, Butternut Squash, Barley, Beer and Olive Stew

Somewhere between a stew and a risotto this was going to be your standard beef stew til I realised we didn’t have many vegetables , you could use less pearl barley for a sloppier stew.  The beer gives a lovely malty taste to the chewy barley, salty olives, tender meat and sweet butternut squash.

Beef, Butternut Squash, Barley, Beer and Stew

Makes enough for 4
4006 of stewing beef cubed
500g of Butternut Squash cubed
200g of pearl barley
1 pint of dark ale
1 tsp of dried thyme
2 tbsp of plain flour
1 pint of beef stock
1 clove of garlic finely chopped
1 medium onion finely chopped
1/2 tsp of ground black pepper
1 tsp of sunflower oil
4 tbsp of black olives stoned and roughly chopped

1. Season the beef with the pepper and flour
2. Fry the onions , garlic , and brown the beef
3. Add the butternut squash, thyme and pour over the stock
4. Place on a low simmer or in a medium oven and cook for 2 hours, you may need to add more stock
5. For the last hour add the pearl barley and olives

Alternatively is you are using a slow cooker 6 hours on low with the barley added for the last hour.

Happy New Year 2012

1. Beer Braised Beef Ribs, 2. Wet Garlic and Preserved Lemon Risotto with Slow Roasted Tomatoes, 3. Orange and Cardamom Baklava, 4. Damson Ice Cream, 5. Stubby Beans, 6. Caldo Verde – Spring Green , Chorizo, Broad Bean Soup, 7. Sausages with Slow Cooked Beans, 8. Macaroni Cheese, 9. Cucumber , Radish and Broad Bean Salad with Radish Leaf and Feta Pesto, 10. Tacos with Slow Cooked Pork in chipoltes en adobo, 11. Persian Chicken Stew with Pomegranate and Almonds, 12. Spiced Beef, 13. Spaghetti and Meatballs, 14. Profiteroles, 15. Slow Roasted Pork Belly with Lentils and Slow Roasted Tomato Salad, 16. Rhubarb and Almond Tart, 17. Five Spice Pork Belly with Pickled Vegetable Salad, 18. Javanese Lamb and Runner Bean Curry, 19. Portabello Stuffed Mushroom Burgers with Tomato Salsa, 20. Chicken Chorizo and Parsnip Pie, 21. Spiced Whiting with Coconut Fennel Lentils, 22. Oxtail Star Anise, 23. Pea Lettuce and Stilton Soup, 24. Smoked Ham Hock with Beans and Vegetables., 25. Pasta with Peas Broad Beans and Feta and Spinach Pesto, 26. Homemade Bagels, 27. BBQ Lamb, 28. Gochujang Pulled Pork with Spicy Beansprout Salad, 29. Smoked Salmon with Pickled Cucumber and Red Onion Salad, Hot New Potato Salad, 30. Chocolate Date Cake, 31. Fennel and Potato Gratin, 32. Tomato, Onion and Potato Tart, 33. Hummus with Olives Peppers and Jalepenos with Sumac Spiced Flatbread, 34. Turkish Flatbreads with Lamb Haggis & Pomegranate, 35. Steak Pudding, 36. Lamb and Chickpea Balls with Watercress and Radish Salad

Wow it’s been quite a year, pregnant or with a newborn but I still managed to pack in a lot of cooking. While pregnant I ate very healthily and towards the end when Baby Emily was very overdue I consumed a lot of pineapple ( quite happy if I never eat that again)

Having a newborn around the the slow-cooker has been a lifesaver, even sleep deprived I can throw a load of thing in at some point in the day and have dinner on the table without the risk of anything being burnt, Beer Braised Beef Ribs

Our hob also broke part way through the year meaning I became pretty adept at using the microwave a device I have always avoided but it is brilliant for  cooking rice and pasta and means even now when distracted by a baby-emergency we do not end up with burnt offerings.

My other find for the tired mind is definitely a pressure cooker, being able to have dried pulses useable in less than half an hour is fantastic in combination with the pressure cooker it produced a stand out dish – Stumpy Pumpy Beans adapted from Valentine Warner and a real winter warmer

With less time on my hands I  have done a lot more meal planning, Sundays we sit down and work out what we will eat for the week ahead. Having the local farmers market has been fantastic.  We are often there as the stallholders set up, pushing Em and munching on bacon rolls.

Towards the end of the  year I have begun giving Em some real food , pureed veg so far, it’s so lovely watching her eat and she makes some very happy umming noises.

One regret I have not managed nearly enough foraging this year some damsons and walnuts from local trees and a few mushrooms but Spring will be just around the corner and I will be back to form.

It’s going to be another big year, no resolutions yet but watch this space

Mrs Beeton’s Spiced Beef

This Christmas I decided to make most of the presents I gave no mean feat with Emily increasingly demanding my attention – thankfully she was a willing model for the Grandparents present a calender featuring her lovely self.
The rest of the gifts with edible , oatcakes , lime pickle and some little Pork Pies
all tried and tested recipes but I wanted to try something new The Times featured a Mrs Beeton recipes to coincide with the updated version issued for Christmas

I used a supermarket cut of beef , and took half down to my Mum’s where it went down well miraculously considering we were all well and truly spoilt by Mum’s excellent cooking.

The outside cures becoming firm but leaving the inside very soft perfect for cold cuts and canapes. I had lost the recipe by the time I came to make it so was working from memory but this recipe worked well

Mrs Beeton Spiced Beef
1kg silverside/topside of beef
100g of salt
25g of brown sugar
2 tbsp of black peppercorns crushed
1 tbsp of juniper berries crushed
1 tsp of coriander seeds crushed

1. Mix together the marinade ingredients
2. Rub the mariande over the beef seal in a plastic bag
3. Leave in the refridgerator for 5-7 days
4. Remove from the refridgerator allow to come to room temperature and wipe of the marinade
5. Place in the oven at 160degC for 45 minutes
6. Return to the fridge for 3 days wrapped tightly in clingfilm, it is easiest to slice when very cold.
7. Finely slice and serve with some celeriac remoulade

Horseradish Celeriac Remoulade

1 celeriac outer skin sliced off and flesh finely grated ( peel using a large knife as you would a squash rather than a potato)
1 egg yolk
1/4 tsp salt
Juice and zest of a lemon
6 tbsp of rape seed oil
1 tsp mustard ( I use wholegrain but traditionally you should use dijon) , but I substitute horseradish to go with the beef
2 tbsp of chopped fresh parsley
Pinch of salt

1. Beat together  the egg yolk, salt and mustard until well mixed
2. Finally whisk in the oil and lemon juice
3. Stir in the grated celeriac and parsley
4. Leave for at least at hour to allow the celeriac to cure and soften

Merry Christmas from my sad thoughtful little reindeer who tried her first solid food a  carrot baton and even sucked on satsuma lovingly held by her Granny.

Leftovers Lunches, Brussel Sprout & Bacon Gnocchi and Spinach & Stilton Soup

A couple of dishes either to get you in the mood with some Christmas flavours or a way to use some leftovers.

A christmassy pasta dish well it contains , brussel sprouts, bacon (crumbled sausage would work well too, if you have some chipolatas hanging around), nutmeg and cream all pretty classic items you might have smalls the fridge around Christmas , you can make your own gnocchi but since this is a bit of a leftover dish I use bought ones

Chrismassy Gnocchi

400g of gnocchi
2 rashers of bacon
2 large handfuls of brussell sprouts or other greens spring cabbage , spinach etc finely shredded
2 cloves of garlic finely chopped
1/2 tsp of nutmeg
1/2 tsp of ground black pepper
4 tbsp of cream.

Fry the bacon and garlic until it is begining to crisp
Add the shredded brussell sprouts and some addition greens if you fancy spring greens, cabbage, here I used some particularly leafy purple sprouting broccoli.
Meanwhile simmer the gnocchi in a pan of warm water
Once the greens add the nutmeg and black pepper
Stir well then add the cooked gnocci and a dash of cream just to bring everything  together

Stilton is another thing we often have some leftover, and some stale bread this is a great soup that can be made with tinned , frozen  or fresh spinach .

Spinach and Stilton Soup

4 slices of white bread
4 cups of spinach
2 tbsp of stilton
1 pinch of nutmeg
1/2 a onion
1 clove of garlic
1/2 pint of vegetable stock
1/2 pint of milk

1. Fry the onion and garlic in sunflower oil
2. Add the nutmeg, spinach , stock , milk, two-thirds of the stilton and half the bread
3. Toast the bread with the remaining stilton crumbled on top.
4. Puree the soup and top with the stilton toast