Easter Sunday, a feast of duck

It has been so long since I last posted that I’m not even going to bother commenting. Onwards!

The big news chez nous is that we have recently replaced our kitchen. Gone is the poky little galley with the slightly yellowish walls. In its place a big, bright room with a huge island and a statement radiator. I’ll share some before and after pictures at some point.

Easter Sunday lunch, then, was a chance to flex some cooking muscles which we haven’t been able to do in a while. And it was delicious.

Duck and black pudding bonbons with sweet and sour roasted plums. We often make these bonbons at Christmas and, once the  confit legs have been brined, slow cooked in duck fat and then roasted the final stage is simplicity itself. The meat is so tender that it only needs a bit of black pudding and a pinch of Chinese five spice and it holds itself together perfectly in a sphere which can then be bread-crumbed and fried. You may note that head-chef D favours bonbons that tend towards the snooker-ball size.

Brined duck breast with cabbage, ginger cream and chilli oil. An Ottolenghi accompaniment - sounds odd, proved absolutely delicious. 

Cherry frangipane tart with clementine ice cream. D has conceived something of a passion for pastry recently and he does it very well. The ice cream is simplicity itself and lovely both on its own and as an accompaniment. 

After months of ready meals, sandwiches and takeaways, utter bliss.

Recipe corner: small batch basic brownies

Happy Easter to all who celebrate it - and Happy Chocolate Day to those who don’t. This is a big year for us; my Mum finally fulfilled one of D’s longest standing ambitions by buying us an Hotel Chocolat Ostrich Egg. It is gargantuan. We will be eating it until Christmas.

The thing with us and chocolate: we both love it and have a number of sweet teeth but don’t tend to eat it in massive quantities. I have friends who tell me they can’t have sweet stuff in the house without it being consumed; we have an overflowing stash drawer and generally just have a small treat after dinner. One of the few areas of life where I find it easy to exercise moderation. Shame I can’t do the same when it comes to, say, melted cheese.

Anyway, (sense the segue) I wanted to figure out the proportions for a small batch of brownies which are a GREAT way of using up any chocolate going spare. A full size bake for two adults is a bit too much, but this recipe makes 12 brownie bites or 6-8 more substantial cakes. I’ve adapted the recipe from the gorgeous Jane’s Patisserie website which is full of lovely, lovely things.

I use a small foil tray from Waitrose to bake these which are a good size (18cm by 11cm, 2.5 cm deep). You could also use a standard loaf tin which would give you a deeper brownie (and a smaller surface area). If you do this you will probably need to increase the baking time. Baking time is CRUCIAL when it comes to brownies; although I’ve given the time that works for me and for my oven, there is no substitute for checking. Use the toothpick test visual as a guide; it really works.

Ingredients

65g dark chocolate

65g butter

1 large egg

90g caster sugar

Pinch of salt

Splash of vanilla extract

35g plain flour

15g cocoa

Up to 200g additions - optional (chocolate chips, nuts, chopped confectionary)

Makes 6-12 brownies 

Finely chop the chocolate and dice the butter and place in a heatproof bowl. Melt together (either over a pan of simmering water or in short bursts in the microwave) and then set aside for 10 mins. 

While it’s cooling, preheat the oven to 160 (fan), and have the egg and sugar measured out in one bowl and the flour and cocoa in another. Lightly butter your foil tray.

Using a stand mixer or an electric whisk, beat together the egg and sugar until you have a pale mousse. This will take 5 mins or so.

Pour over the cooled chocolate and add a pinch of salt and splash of vanilla. Gently fold the chocolate through - try and preserve as much of the air as possible. Then shower over the flour / cocoa mix and fold that through too. It needs to be well combined and this ALWAYS takes longer than you think. Patience, grasshopper.

Finally, stir through any additions you’re including before pouring in to the greased tray and smoothing the top.

Bake for 12 minutes or until a toothpick yields the correct result. Allow to cool in the tray before removing and using a nice sharp knife to cut. 

Easter Sunday lunch - 2019

For the second year in a row, D and I decided to push the boat out a bit for Easter Sunday lunch.  Although we did not eat it at lunchtime.  And we are neither of us practicing Christians (although I still maintain that my Catholicism is lapsed rather than totally extinct.)

Last year, we had duck.  This year, we again blew raspberries in the face of tradition (which demands that one serves lamb on Easter Sunday) and had pork.  Roast belly pork.  Twice cooked.

But first, not so much as a starter as an amuse.  An idea that we blatantly nicked borrowed from the specials board of The Reliance last week.  Little Jersey Royals, parboiled and then tossed in oil and roasted, split and topped with sour cream and caviar (not the real stuff, I hasten to add).  Reader, this is such a simple idea but it is SO effective and would make a marvellous canape, especially during Jersey Royal season.

Onto the pork, and my husband takes roasting belly pork very seriously.  This behemoth of a joint was slow cooked, pressed and then finished under the grill per the method that I've described here.

I, meanwhile, was in charge of side dishes, and I made lightly pickled rhubarb and stem ginger - not quite a chutney - based on Diana Henry's recipe here.  It was absolutely delicious with the rich meat.  She served it with a pork loin that was flavoured with caraway and juniper - I knew that wouldn't fly with the Pig Master, so decided to introduce caraway, at least, into the meal by sauteeing little cubes of potato with caraway seeds until crispy and golden.  Finally, we needed something green and so I made a delicious tangle of kale, blanched and then cooked together with onion, bacon and cream and flavoured with bags of black pepper and nutmeg.  To bring everything together, the splendid pork gravy.  And yes, we did serve the gravy in a miniature gravy boat.  The first rule of Masterchef Presenation is that the sauce should always be on the side.

Having devoured that, we were quite pleased that we had kept the starter light because still to come was dessert and this was another very rich dish, for all that I kept the portion sizes small.  Chocolate ganache, salted caramel sauce and candied salted peanuts.  I already had a pretty good idea of what I wanted to do but used this recipe as a rough guideline.  It tasted like a very posh Snickers which is a Good Thing.

It wasn't till after we had finished that we realised that not only had the starter been a blatant rip off tribute to The Reliance, but the other two dishes were also based on things that we have eaten there in the recent past.  Which tells you that a) we love The Reliance and if you are ever in Leeds, you should go and b) eating out is an important source of culinary inspiration and therefore is entirely justified in all circumstances. 

Happy Easter one and all!

Easter Sunday lunch

Although Christmas Day is generally the time where we push the boat out with regards lunch, we decided to put a little bit of time, trouble and thought into our Easter repast this year.  And, might I say, the results were very pleasing.

We wanted our starter to be nice and simple and, as luck would have it, we still had a packet of Tobermory smoked salmon in the freezer so elected to have that alongside some homemade bread.  It turned out, when said packet was retrieved, that the smoked salmon was actually smoked trout but we enjoyed it just the same.  It needed nothing more than a scrunch of black pepper and a few drops of lemon juice to make it perfect.  As for the bread, my love affair with Dan Lepard's sour cream loaf continues.  Such a good bread.  We ate the last of it yesterday (Thursday), lightly toasted, and it was still very delicious indeed.

For our main course, we wanted to try and recapture the glorious duck dish that we ate at Joro earlier this year.  The duck was brined for 48 hours and then served with a coriander and peanut pesto and a katsu sauce.  To make it more substantial than the original, we added a side of rice through which we stirred D's coriander and green chilli chutney.  This was utterly sublime, and I intend to blog the full recipe very soon so that I don't manage to forget exactly what we did.  If you happen to come to our house for dinner in the course of the next year, it is quite likely that this is what you will be served.

D gave up sweet stuff for Lent, bless his heart.  For six weeks he eschewed puddings, sweets, chocolate, biscuits and cake like a little trooper.  So I let him choose what he wanted for dessert on Easter Sunday, and his request was for a no-bake lemon cheesecake.  When I came to research this, I found that the majority of lemon cheesecake recipes were, in fact, baked.  But I came across this one by Mary Berry which seemed to fit the bill nicely.  It may seem a cheat to use lemon curd as a flavouring but the results were delicious and it was incredibly easy to do.  Instead of making one large cake, which served eight, I opted to half the recipe and make four cheesecake pots which makes life an awful lot easier in terms of serving.  My only criticism was that, for me, the ratio of base to topping was slightly off - the biscuit at the bottom is always my favourite part of a cheesecake.  So, if I make this again, I'd probably up the amount of crumb in the bottom of the pots by half.  Bear in mind though that I am greedy. 

We finished with cheese from The Cheeseboard in Harrogate.  If you ever happen to find yourself in Harrogate, and if you are a lover of cheese, then you must make them a visit.  The selection is amazing and they do nice bread and chutneys too (although obviously my bread is better!)

There may not have been a roast lamb in sight (I will remedy that shortly - one should never have to wait too long for a roast lamb dinner) but a very pleasing meal all the same and it was nice to mark the most important celebration in the liturgical year for all that I would no longer consider myself a practicing Catholic.  I hope that everyone out there on T'Internet, particularly those of the Christian persuasion, had a very happy and holy Easter.  The next stop is surely Spring!

Recipe corner: Hot cross bun pudding with salted caramel

I wasn't going to bother putting this one through the WW recipe builder, because frankly, there are some things that we are better off not knowing.  However, the original happened to include the nutritional information, so I've calculated the points for shits and giggles.  It's a scary number, but I promise you, if you make this recipe, you will thank me for it.  And we can all go for a long, daffodil strewn walk to burn if off, yes?

This recipe was originally published in March's Waitrose kitchen magazine and the only change that I made was to use skimmed rather than whole milk because I tend not to have whole milk to hand and I always feel that if a custard has double cream in it, it probably doesn't make an awful lot of difference.  It is a good dish for a dinner party because all the component parts can be made well in advance and then you just have to pour over the custard, strew the sugar and bake.  We did this just as we were sitting down to cheese and the timing worked out nicely.

We served this with a simnel cake ice cream which was basically a spice infused custard combined with dried fruit that had been pre soaked in brandy and Earl Gray tea, and chopped pieces of marzipan.  Vanilla ice cream would be a good accompaniment too though, or just a trickle of cream.

Oh, this makes slightly more of the salted caramel sauce than you need for four puddings, so keep the excess and pour over ice cream.  Or just eat with a spoon.

Ingredients

100 ml milk
100 ml double cream
Tsp vanilla extract
2 egg yolks
Tbsp caster sugar
4 hot cross buns, chopped into eight pieces
Tbsp demerara sugar

For the caramel sauce:

110g caster sugar
40g unsalted butter
1 tbsp brandy
75 ml double cream
Pinch of sea salt

Serves 4, 16 pro points per portion

First, the caramel sauce.  Put the sugar in a large saucepan - it needs to have a big surface area and a heavy bottom (a bit like me!)  Set over a low heat and allow to melt slowly.  Swirl it occasionally to ensure it is warming evenly but do NOT be tempted to stir.  While this is happening you can combine the brandy and the cream and get the butter measured out.

When the sugar is melted turn the heat up SLIGHTLY and simmer gently until it has turned a deep amber gold colour.  Watch it like a hawk - it will go from beautiful to burnt very quickly.  When it has gone as dark as you dare remove from the heat and stir in the butter (it will spit, so be careful).  Then stir in the brandy cream and the sea salt until combined.

Take the four ramekins you are using for the puddings and put a generous couple of tablespoons of sauce in the bottom of each one, swirling for even coverage.  Do this straight away while the caramel is still nice and loose.  Arrange the hot cross bun pieces on top.  You can do this in advance and set aside.

Put the milk, cream and vanilla in another pan and bring to just below boiling point - you want there to be lots of bubbles all around the edge just busily breaking the service.  While it is getting there you can whisk the egg yolks and sugar together lightly.  Remove the milk and cream from the heat and pour in a slow, steady stream over the egg yolks whisking constantly to prevent scrambling.  You can make this in advance as well.  Place some cling film directly on the top of the custard to prevent a skin forming as it cools and set aside.

Prior to serving, preheat the oven to 180.  Pour the custard over the buns and sprinkle with the demerara sugar then bake for 20 minutes or until golden.  You can drizzle more sauce on before serving if you like (and who wouldn't?)

Recipe corner: tuna and apple mousse

This is not really a recipe so much as telling you a list of ingredients to bung in a food processor and blitz to an inauspicious looking paste.  It is very tasty though.  We served it as a dip prior to Easter Sunday lunch, with strips of toasted pitta bread and crudites, but it is also lovely on toast with some crisp slices of cucumber.  The amount listed below will yield enough to fill two large ramekins. The original recipe (which I have tweaked ever so slightly) comes from "Chocolate and Zucchini" by Clotilde Dusoulier.

Ingredients

1 large can of tuna in brine or spring water, drained
1 shallot, quartered
1/2 crisp green apple (a Granny Smith is ideal), cored and quatered
Juice of half a lemon
Small handful of fresh coriander leaves
60g ricotta
1/2 tsp chilli powder
25ml olive oil

Serves 4 (generously), 3 pro points per portion

Er, place ingredients in food processor.  Season.  Blitz.

Ca, c'est tout.

Further notes on Easter Sunday

When playing host, D and I like nothing more than to feed people until they pop and wash said food down with as much wine as we can ply them with.  Our motto is never knowingly underfed.  Except that we are both quite pretentious so would probably try and translate it into Latin.

To kick off our Easter excesses, there were dips - a smoky, garlic laden baba ganoush and a surprisingly delicious tuna and apple mousse. The recipe for the latter will follow shortly, since it is one of those things that is incredibly quick and easy to knock up and is marvellous smeared over pitta, crudites or crackers depending on what you have to hand.

Then, to start, D's latest iteration of a prawn cocktail notable in particular for its smoky avocado puree and sun dried tomato flatbread.  Smoke and avocado is an absolute winning combination which we first encountered during a recent trip to The Yorke Arms and we found that the easiest and tastiest way to achieve it was by making scant use of this product: Liquid Smoke.  Seldom has a condiment been so aptly named; if you're a fan of smoky, barbecue flavours, I would definitely check this out.  Meanwhile, the flat bread was nicked wholesale from one of Jamie O's 15 minute meals and basically consists of blitzed up sun dried tomatoes in oil with flour, baking powder and a little water and then pan frying it until blistered and crispy.  Incredibly simple but an excellent way to add flavour and texture to the dish.

Dessert was another recipe that I'm going to put up here later this week because it is imperative that it is shared - salted caramel hot cross bun pudding with simnel cake ice cream.  If you like fruit, spice and rich vanilla sweetness then it is very important that you make this before the shops decide to stop selling hot cross buns (although I reckon a tea cake might do at a pinch).  Stay tuned, hop pickers!

Italian inspired stuffed leg of lamb with Spring on the side - Easter Sunday chez Foodie

For all that Easter is the arguably more significant religious festival (to Christians, at least) it is Christmas Dinner that has become the biggest occasion in the home cook's calendar.  This year, D and I wanted to try and redress the balance a little bit.

It had to be lamb.  You can't not cook lamb at Easter.  And,to be honest, if you're going to cook lamb, it is very hard to go wrong with Tom Kerridge's superlative lamb shoulder on boulangere potatoes. If you've never cooked that little beauty, dear Reader, then you need to give it a go.  But I wanted to do something a little bit different this year, and took to t'Internet for some alternative inspiration.

I ended up, thanks to some inspiration from a dear friend, with an approximation of this recipe, courtesy of the Jamie Oliver magazine.

I started with a leg joint that my friendly local butcher boned out and butterflied for me.  It is worth asking a professional to do this if you possibly can, although a husband with access to You Tube and a sharp knife will make a jolly good attempt if you're pushed.  I smeared a couple of heaped teaspoons of green pesto across the meat then added roughly chopped artichoke hearts, still golden and peppery with oil, anchovy fillets, a thick coating of Parmesan breadcrumbs, a carpet of flat leaf parsley and plenty of seasoning before rolling the beast up and securing with string.  There are some powerful, salty ingredients in that stuffing, such that it sounds like it might be slightly too much - but rest assured that in conjunction with the sweet, fatty lamb it works like an absolute dream.

To accompany, I wanted some side dishes that would incorporate the same sort of robust flavours as the meat but might be slightly lighter than the Sunday dinner norm.  I revisited an old friend, a cannellini bean puree flavoured with lemon and roasted garlic which provided a soft, flavourful blanket on which to build the plate up with roasted new potatoes, pan roasted asparagus (still not local alas - I'm waiting for the start of the season with bated breath) and a delicious braised fennel gratin with lemon and Parmesan.  Minted peas would be another excellent addition here if you felt so inclined. 

Happy Easter!

I hope, most fervently, that you all had chocolate for breakfast...or, at the very least, a hot cross bun.

I'll be back soon with tales of an Italian inspired roast leg of lamb and the recipe for a VERY indulgent but seriously good Easter pudding.

In the meantime, I leave you with news that at least one person does not appear to be perturbed by the decline in Creme Egg quality this year...