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: Haggis stuffed chicken with carrot and ginger mash and orange and whisky sauce

As recipe titles go, it's not the snappiest, is it?  You will also, if you scroll down, see it is not the lowest points offering in the world BUT it is absolutely delicious.  And look, my food photography is as pitiful as ever, but the carrot mash was in a tower!  That's how I roll for Friday night suppers.

I have had a mild haggis obsession since our first trip up to Western Scotland - four years ago if memory serves (and it doesn't always, I drink a lot of gin).  This is the first time that I have used it as a stuffing and it worked marvellously well - it has a subtle, spicy warmth to it which is perfect as an accent.  Here, the mash and the sauce are both quite sweet (the sauce in particular, which I have vaguely based on a couple of whisky Cumberland sauce recipes that I found online, tastes a little like marmalade - don't let that put you off!)  But when eaten in conjunction with the meat they work brilliantly well.  I also roasted off some curly kale to sit underneath the chicken and I would recommend serving this dish with some sort of iron rich green vegetable for an additional savoury note.

To cut down on points you could use a skinless chicken breast and/or reduce the amount of butter used.  Don't skimp on the haggis though.  They don't call it the chieftain of the pudding race for nothing.

Ingredients

20g butter

2 medium, skin-on chicken breasts
100g haggis (we use MacSween's which is readily available in supermarkets)
Tbsp half fat creme fraiche

3-4 large carrots, peeled and chopped
Fresh grated ginger to taste (probably about a tbsp worth)

Shallot, finely chopped
Juice of 2 oranges
Zest of 1/2 an orange
50ml whisky
Tbsp redcurrant jelly
Tsp English mustard
Pinch of cayenne pepper

Serves 2, 16 pro points per portion

Weigh out your butter - you'll use this across all three aspects of the dish and can adjust what goes where to suit.

The carrot mash can easily be done in advance: boil the carrots until soft, drain and then roughly mash or crush - you are not looking for a smooth puree here.  Grate in the ginger and add seasoning and a knob of butter and combine over a gentle heat until the butter is melted.  Add enough ginger so that it gives your mash a mellow warmth but does not overpower the carrots themselves.

Prepare your chicken: carefully butterfly the breast.  Pop the haggis in a bowl, cover with cling film, pierce and microwave on high for 2 minutes.  Combine it with the creme fraiche to loosen slightly.  Spread the haggis on one half of the chicken breast and then fold up and secure with cocktail sticks.  Season the chicken skin well and set aside.

In a small pan, melt another knob of butter and gently cook the shallot until soft.  Add the whisky - you can light it at this point but, be warned, there is quite a lot of alcohol in 50ml and it will flame high and for quite a long time.  Act nonchalant.  Flamed or not, you want to reduce the whisky down to practically nothing.  Then you can add the other ingredients and stir over a medium heat until the jelly melts.  Don't reduce it here - you'll do that in a minute - you're just looking to get everything amalgamated.

Preheat your oven to 190.  Heat the remainder of the butter in a frying pan and place the chicken breasts skin side down.  Fry for about five minutes, so they get a good amount of colour and crustiness on the skin.  Then transfer, skin side up, onto an oven tray and thence into the oven for about fifteen minutes to cook through.

Keep the chicken pan over a low heat and pour in your orange sauce mix.  Use the liquid to scrape up all the lovely, crusty bits of chicken stuck to the pan and combine with the buttery meat juices.  Raise the heat and start to reduce the sauce down by around two thirds to a sticky, marmalade scented syrup.  If you have made the carrot mash in advance, be sure to reheat it at this stage.

Serve chicken, carrot and sauce preferably with some form of green vegetable.

Classic recipe corner: Perfect spaghetti carbonara

Every home cook should familiarise themselves with a carbonara recipe.  If you're anything like me, the ingredients are pretty much cupboard and fridge staples and it so quick and easy to do not to mention utterly delicious.

I'm (quite clearly) no Italian mama, and my understanding of Italian food is that recipes tend to vary from region to region in much the same way as they do in this country, so there is possibly no such thing as a completely authentic version - however, this one was taken from The Silver Spoon which I think is about as close to an Italian food bible as one is going to get.  You will note the complete lack of any bells and whistles - no mushrooms or onions and most definitely no cream.  To add cream to a carbonara is, in my humble opinion, just plain wrong - it makes it an entirely different thing.  I love the naked simplicity of this recipe - the rich saltiness of the bacon and cheese and the silky golden coating on the pasta with the faintest hum of garlic.  Utter bliss.

The only change that we make is to sub different types of bacon for the pancetta depending on what we have to hand.  Four rashers of back bacon will give you the same points count for more meat because of the lower fat content and is worth it if you want a good hit of bacon.  Because of the butter I don't really think the end result is compromised.

Admit it - it wouldn't be the WWFoodie without god awful food photography!

Ingredients

10g butter
50g pancetta
1 fat clove of garlic
175g spaghetti
1 medium egg
40g Parmesan cheese

Serves 2, 16 pro points per portion

One of the key things to remember with carbonara is to heat the plates up in advance.  Because you have to combine the pasta and sauce off the heat, it is already starting to cool down by the time you serve it.  Unless you want cold pasta, your plates need to be hot.  So put them in the oven at a low temperature now.

Put a large pan of salted water on to boil while you get everything else prepped.

Finely grate the Parmesan cheese.  Whisk the egg and add two thirds of the cheese to it along with a hearty grinding of black pepper.  Peel the garlic clove and then, using the flat of a knife blade, lightly bruise it.  Chop the bacon if you haven't take the lazy route and bought it pre cubed.

Once the water is up to the boil, tip in the spaghetti.  Heat the butter in a frying pan large enough to hold all the pasta once it is cooked.

As the butter melts, add the pancetta and the garlic clove and cook until the bacon is crispy.  It should take about the same amount of time as the pasta takes to cook - that is 8-10 minutes depending on brand.

When the pasta is cooked, reserve a mug full of the cooking water and then drain.  Fish the garlic clove out of the frying pan and throw the pasta straight in.  Over the heat stir well so that the pasta is completely coated in a light layer of butter and bacon fat.

Now - and this is important - you have to remove the pan completely from the heat.  Pour in the egg and cheese mixture and a splash of the cooking water and combine well.  I find tongs the best tool for this to ensure that you are lifting the pasta and it all gets well coated.  Add more cooking water as required - you want the spaghetti to have a very light, silky coating.

Serve in the warmed plates topped with a scrunch more black pepper and the remaining Parmesan cheese.  Sigh in contentment.

Classic recipe corner: A simple, mid-week kedgeree

Kedgeree is a dish that I seem to recall my Mum being very fond of when we were younger, although I think that I am right in saying that her version contained cream.  It's certainly very delicious indeed, and a welcome addition to our regular supper rotation.  It doesn't feel like the combination of smoked fish and curry should work but it really, really does.  When I decided to make this, research seemed to suggest as many different methods of making it as...well, there were lots.  This is a very, very simple version which just allows the lovely flavour combinations to shine through and is closely based on Felicity Cloake's "Perfect" recipe.  We initially made it, as she suggests and as the picture shows, with soft boiled eggs on top but decided in a later version to have one hard-ish boiled egg chopped through and then a poached topping where the yolk runs down and creates a little bit of a sauce which works really well.

16 pro points gives you a hefty portion size - even D, who tends to fine my portions a bit meagre - was quite happy with this.  But to reduce the points even further, you could get away with cutting down on the amount of rice.

This is terribly easy to cook but be warned, it uses a lot of different pans so have a handy husband standing by to wash up.

Ingredients

165g basmati rice
250g smoked haddock
30g butter
1 large onion, finely chopped
1 green chilli, deseeded and sliced thinly
2 crushed cardamom pods
1 tbsp curry powder
3 medium eggs
1 tbsp white wine vinegar
Small handful of chives, chopped
Small bunch of coriander, chopped
Lemon wedges to serve

Serves 2, 16 pro points per portion

You could soak the rice beforehand but I don't tend to find it makes a whit of difference.  In which case, cook the rice in salted water according to your usual method.  I use my mother in law's foolproof technique which is to use double the volume of water as to rice, bring to the boil and then cover and turn the heat down to the lowest setting and leave for five minutes.  Then turn off the heat altogether and leave covered for a further five minutes at which point all the water should be absorbed and you should have perfect rice.

In a second pan, place the fish (skin side up) cover with boiling water and then place over a low heat and cook for ten minutes.  Remove with a slotted spoon (you can discard the cooking water) and, when cool enough to handle, flake.

Hardish boil one of your eggs - Delia's six minute method is perfect.  Be sure to run it under cool water as soon as it comes out of the pan to ensure that it doesn't continue to cook.  Peel and chop.

You now have all the constituent parts of your kedgeree - the rice, fish and egg can be done in advance.  Now for cooking.  Put one third of the butter in a large pan and melt.  Put a pan of boiling water on the heat, complete with white wine vinegar, ready for the eggs.

Fry the onion gently until softened before adding the chilli and the spices.  Cook out for a couple of minutes, or until the curry powder has lost its "raw" smell, and then add the rice and stir well to ensure that it is all coated.  Then add the fish, the egg and the remaining butter, combine well, and check the seasoning.  Smoked haddock tends to be quite salty so you will need a judicious hand with the salt cellar, but kedgeree loves plenty of black pepper.

At about this point, you can put your eggs on to poach.  They will only need a couple of minutes, so while they are going for it, stir through the fresh herbs and a squeeze of fresh lemon juice and dish up the rice and the fish into warmed plates.  Slide the perfectly poached egg onto the top before serving.

Recipe corner: Sea bass with Parmesan risotto and cherry tomatoes

Sometimes, when we’re dining out, D and I like to play a guessing game whereby we try and predict what the other will order. Yes, I know what you’re thinking – you’re thinking how much fun it would be to have us as dining companions and you’d be right. Barrel of laughs, that’s us. But it’s a long standing tradition now.

The thing is, the game has revealed me to be distressingly predictable when it comes to certain ingredients. If a given item appears on the menu that D knows I am 99% likely to choose it. I make it too easy. And I am not particularly motivated to fight those inclinations.

Sea bass, for example. Or just plain bass as I believe we should call it now. It is, quite simply, one of my absolute favourite things. If it pops up on a menu D has the game won because I just can’t resist. It seems odd, therefore, that I don’t cook with it more – particularly since it is so low in points as well! A decent sized fillet is just 3 pro points, not much more than 100 calories.

I tend to associate sea bass with Mediterranean type flavours; for a fairly delicate fish it goes surprisingly well with a range of robust ingredients. Equally, it can hold its own in the face of spice, and I have had it served in with an Indian curry style sauce that worked very well indeed. This weekend though, I went very simple to allow all the lovely, natural flavour to sing.

Incidentally this risotto, though as basic as basic can be, is absolutely delicious and would work as an accompaniment for all sorts of ingredients. Don’t be put off by the seemingly meagre portion of rice, it is rich enough to be perfectly satisfying.


Ingredients

2 x sea bass fillets (about 120g each)
Tbsp olive oil

Cherry tomatoes (preferably on the vine – they look so pretty!)

30g butter
Shallot, finely chopped
60ml vermouth (use white wine if you haven’t got any)
100g Arborio rice
300ml chicken stock
40g Parmesan cheese, finely grated

Serves 2, 16 pro points per portion

Switch the oven to 180 and whack in the cherry tomatoes to roast – they’ll take about 30 minutes but are relatively forgiving.

For the risotto, melt half the butter in a sturdy pan and, when ready, soften the shallot. When it is translucent (do not allow it to brown, you want mellow flavours here) tip in the rice, stir well to ensure that it is coated and then add the vermouth and allow to bubble off.

At this stage you know the drill: add a ladle of stock at a time and stir briskly, bashing the grains of rice about the pan, to absorb. Continue to do this for as long as it takes to cook the rice to the al dente stage – I would say about ten minutes, but keep checking the grains and work to your own taste. You may find you don’t use all the stock.

The fish will take about four minutes to cook, so time it to coincide roughly with the risotto being ready. Season the fillet well – the skin in particular needs a good sprinkling of salt. When ready, heat the oil in a pan – you want it really hot to enable you to get a good, crisp skin without overcooking the fish. Place the fillets skin side down into the hot pan and leave for three minutes. After that, flip them, turn the heat right down and allow them just a further minute to finish cooking.

When the risotto is cooked, add the remainder of the butter and the Parmesan, cover and leave to sit for a minute or so – don’t be tempted to skip this step, it really does make a difference.

Serve risotto and fish garnished with the cherry tomatoes and reflect upon the fact that, however predicable you may be, at least you have excellent taste.

Recipe corner - salmon with curried mussels

Whenever I check my recipe page, I am always surprised by the relative dearth of fish recipes on here.  I love fish - all seafood in fact, and often gravitate towards it on menus over meat alternatives.  If a restaurant is offering sea bass, for example, then nine times out of ten that's what I'll pick.  And yet, do I appear to have cooked any sea bass and blogged about it over the past few years?  Not a (fishy) sausage. 

Anyway, this is not a sea bass recipe - actually, I think we're just meant to call it bass now - but it is very, very tasty nonetheless.  The original used twice the amount of butter and a disturbing(ly good) dose of double cream; this version is slightly less....we'll say refined...less creaminess means the curry flavour comes through a little stronger, but the fish can take it.  We actually cooked this with clams the other night as we couldn't get hold of mussels and they worked too and I can imagine it being very nice with prawns - although obviously you'd have to replace the shellfish liquor with a good stock if you went down that route. 

Ingredients

2 medium salmon fillets
Tsp olive oil

500g mussels (weighed with their shells)
90ml white wine
Onion, roughly chopped
Handful of parsley – torn

15g butter

1 onion, finely diced
1 carrot, finely diced
1 celery stick, finely diced
Tbsp curry powder
150g potatoes, finely diced (this equates to around 2 medium potatoes)
50g half fat crème fraiche
Juice of half a lemon

Serves 2, 16 pro points per portion, 9 Smart Points (WW Flex) per portion

In a large saucepan, soften the onion and parsley for a couple of minutes before tipping in the mussels (having debearded them and discarded any damaged ones), the white wine and some seasoning.  Bring to the boil, cover and simmer for around 5 minutes until all the mussels have opened.  Strain over a bowl to collect the liquor and then remove the mussels from their shells.

Melt the butter in a pan and sweat the onion, carrot and celery until nice and soft.  Stir in the curry powder and cook gently for a couple of minutes to take off the raw edge.  Add about 300ml of the retained mussel liquor to the pan, bring to a decent simmer and then add the potatoes and cook until they are soft – about 10 minutes.  Lower the heat and stir through the crème fraiche and the mussels.

Now you can cook your salmon – heat the oil in a non stick frying pan, place the fillet in skin side down and then turn the heat down and cook for around ten minutes, flipping it to the non skin side for the last thirty seconds or so.  This should give you moist, just cooked flesh and a lovely crispy skin.  Serve the salmon, balanced atop the delicious curried mussel and vegetable mix.

A second #capricornchallenge recipe corner - Summer tomato pasta with goats cheese

So, as I explained here a lovely goat called Ethel sent me all sorts of gorgeous ingredients in return for coming up with some fun and funky ways of cooking her beautiful cheese. Easy for a dedicated cheese lover such as myself.

We've already had a classic tart, and this recipe, inspired by the Barefoot Contessa (love her!) is a fresh and summery pasta dish which would be perfect for al fresco dining if, you know, we actually had any summer to speak of.



Ingredients

3-4 plum tomatoes
Handful of fresh basil leaves
Fat clove of garlic
Tbsp olive oil
Tbsp balsamic vinegar
Squeeze of lemon juice
120g fresh pappardelle pasta
100g Capricorn Somerset goats cheese
20g Parmesan, grated

Serves 2, 16 pro points per portion

The key to this dish is to allow the tomatoes plenty of time to macerate - at least a couple of hours at room temperature. I prepared them the day before, refrigerated overnight then took them out of the fridge a couple of hours before cooking the pasta.

So, firstly you need to halve the tomatoes then, using a teaspoon, scoop out the seeds and discard. Dice the flesh.

Then, julienne the basil leaves. To do this, lay them flat in a pile, roll into a cigar shape and then thinly slice into a heap of green slivers.

Combine the tomato, basil, oil, vinegar, lemon juice and the crushed garlic clove with a hearty amount of salt and pepper, cover and set aside.

When ready to serve, cook the fresh pasta in boiling salted water for a mere 3-4 minutes.

Meanwhile, prepare the goats cheese. I removed the side rind but left the top and bottom and then roughly diced to help it melt through the sauce a little quicker.

When the pasta is cooked, drain well and then stir through the tomatoes, the goats cheese and
half the Parmesan. The cheese will melt and combine with the macerated tomato liquid to give a beautifully delicate, creamy sauce which coats the pasta.

Serve with the remaining Parmesan sprinkled on top.

Recipe Corner - Spiced couscous with halloumi, courgette and broad beans

Squeaky cheese!

Hallelujah people – the frozen broad beans are finally gone! Long time readers, who no doubt take a deep interest in the contents of my freezer, may remember that sometime back in (I think) March or so I began commenting on the fact that I was trying to get the freezer down and that I was trying to come up with interesting uses for a bag of broad beans that never seemed to become any less. Well, one last push the other week and the little critters were finally vanquished. Hurrah.

Actually, I feel a little bereft now. As soon as we’re settled into a new home with a new freezer, I might have to buy some more.

So anyway, this dish was a gorgeous combination of delicately spiced couscous, salty, squeaky halloumi and a fresh pop of summer vegetables. Perfect for this sudden hot spell, I’d say. As the main ingredient is cheese, it is, necessarily, a little hefty on the points – but as you know, I’ll sacrifice a lot to get my cheese fix and halloumi really is a favourite. You’ll notice I use reduced fat halloumi in this recipe. I actually find there to be very little difference between reduced fat and full fat versions – and that is the God’s honest, hand on heart, truth. Were it not the case, I would rather reduce the portion size than compromise (cheese is, after all, a serious business).

Ingredients

100g couscous
Tsp cumin
Tsp coriander
Tsp cinnamon
10g butter
Chicken stock (sufficient to cover the dried couscous)
200g light halloumi, sliced lengthwise
100g broad beans (fresh or frozen)
1 courgette, reduced to ribbons (use a mandolin or a good potato peeler)
Tbsp olive oil
Tbsp white wine vinegar
Squeeze of lemon juice
Scant tsp Dijon mustard

Serves 2, 16 pro points per portion

Put a pan of salted water on to boil and prepare your veg.

Add the spices to the couscous and cover with chicken stock. Place some cling film or a clean tea towel over the bowl and allow to steam while you prepare the other component parts.

Whisk together the oil, vinegar, lemon and mustard with some seasoning and set aside.

Boil the broad beans for five minutes, adding the courgette strips for the final minute. Drain and run cool water over the vegetables to stop them cooking. Pat dry, and return to the pan over a very low heat. Pour over the dressing and gently warm through.

Fry the halloumi slices in a hot, dry non-stick pan for a couple of minutes on each side until darkly blistered.

Uncover the couscous and melt through the butter, using a fork to fluff up the grains. Serve, topped with halloumi slices and the lightly dressed vegetables.

Recipe corner: A thing of stew-ty

A fantastic recipe and an even better pun – what more could you ask for?

One of the very few plus points about growing older is the fact that I seem to be less hungry all the time. I was going to say that I seem to be losing my appetite, but that is probably stretching the point; I still require regular feeding or else I start to droop and sulk. But I don’t require the volume of food that once I did which means I can make my points work harder in terms of quality rather than quantity. This is good, because many of my very favourite things in the world are point heavy, as I suspect this is the situation whatever measure (points, calories, syns…) that you are using.

The recipe below is a case in point. 16 pro points per portion is pretty hefty. Factor in a couple of accompaniments (last Saturday we had this with mashed potato and broad beans tossed in butter, garlic and Iberico ham) and you’ve got nearly an entire day’s consumption in a single meal. It was worth the hit, believe me, but some austerity throughout the rest of the day was required – not to mention a trip to the gym.

Oxtail is not an easy cut to come by – we ordered ours from an online butcher, and I can’t think why it is not more popular because it produces the most fabulous stew. It breaks down into tender beefy shreds and gives the surrounding gravy an incredible unctuous quality. Of course, this is partly because it has an incredibly high fat content, but it does ease one’s conscience a little bit when the cooled fat is removed on the second day (this and the shredding of the meat are messy jobs – I would advocate getting a nearby husband to get his hands dirty while you direct operations from a safe distance).

The original recipe, by Sam and Sam Clarke of Moro, was to be found on the BBC website, although it now appears to have vanished. I have tweaked it very slightly by reducing the amount of oil required – I also used my slow cooker for the first stage although you could just as easily do it in the hob. Don’t be put off by the fact that this is prepared across two days – it is pretty straightforward to make and tastes just…fantastic.

 Oxtail with Rioja and Chorizo

Ingredients

1.5 kg Oxtail (weight including bone), in chunks
1 carrot, quartered
1 onion, quartered
1 celery stick, quartered
Tsp black peppercorns
2 bay leaves
Large sprig of fresh thyme
Tsp cloves
2 garlic cloves, peeled and slightly squished
1 bottle of Rioja
Large sprig of fresh parsley, leaves stripped
Salt and pepper

Tbsp olive oil
1 onion, diced
1 carrot, diced
120g chorizo, sliced into rounds
2 tbsp flour,
1 tsp smoked paprika
½ tsp dried chilli flakes
½ tsp fennel seeds
Tbsp tomato puree
Salt and pepper

Serves 4, 16 pro points a portion

The day before serving, season and then brown the oxtail in a large pan. I found that you did not need to add any oil at this stage – the oxtail’s own fat will be render out sufficiently. NB: depending upon the size of your pan, you may need to do this in batches. Remove from the pan (transfer to slow cooker if using).

Add the carrot, onion and celery to the pan and cook for about five minutes, tossing regularly to ensure that it browns on every side. Then add the peppercorns, bay, thyme, cloves and garlic and cook for a further couple of minutes. Again, transfer to the slow cooker if using, or return the oxtail to the pan.

Add the parsley and rioja, season well and top up with water if required to cover (in the slow cooker, no additional liquid will be necessary even if the meat is not fully submerged). Cook for around 5 hours on High (or simmer gently for around 2 hours) until the meat can be pulled from the bone easily. At this stage, transfer the oxtail to a large bowl and strain the juices over it. Allow to cool and then refrigerate over night.

On the day of eating, remove as much of the solid fat as possible from the cooled stew. At this point, you should also shred the meat from the bones. This is a fairly easy, albeit messy job.

Heat the oil in a large saucepan and sweat off the onion and carrot for about 10 minutes – add a good pinch of salt to allow them to soften without colouring. Add the chorizo and cook for a few more minutes. Then, stir in the flour and cook off for a couple of minutes before tipping in the paprika, fennel seeds and tomato puree. Ensure everything is fully coated in the beautiful orangey paste.

Now you can bring the shredded oxtail and stock to the pan. Season again to taste. Bring to a simmer and cook for 15-20 mins, allowing the gravy to reduce slightly and thicken.

Serve with accompaniments of your choice (although I think it would be wrong not to have it with mashed potato…)